Joe Donnelly: “my amendment, along with my good friend and colleague, Mr. Feeney from Florida, will ensure that pre-purchase financial…”

“my amendment, along with my good friend and colleague, Mr. Feeney from Florida, will ensure that pre-purchase financial counselors for low income, first-time home buyers who are to receive Affordable Housing Fund grant moneys do not discriminate against any particular form of housing in the performance of their duties or rendering financial advice. My amendment will prohibit any existing biases from entering into the financial advice that counselors administer to first-time home buyers, and it ensures that the advice that they are providing is strictly financial, not editorial. These first-time home buyers need to have access to information about all of the types of affordable housing that is available to them, whether it is a manufactured home, condominium or any other form of quality affordable housing. We want to ensure that the people who benefit from this program have all of the information they need to make a sound decision based on their financial needs, but counselors should not steer them to or away from specific types of housing. Mr. Chairman, I urge my colleagues to support this amendment, and I see that my good friend Mr. Feeney is on the floor as well.”