Thomas Mott Osborne: “I rise in support of H.R. 4363, the Helping Hands for Homeownership Act. I am pleased to be a cosponsor of this very…”

“I rise in support of H.R. 4363, the Helping Hands for Homeownership Act. I am pleased to be a cosponsor of this very important legislation. The legislation corrects an interpretation by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in Fiscal Year 2004 which prevents families who received Self-Help Homeownership Opportunity Program funds from fulfilling their ``sweat equity'' requirement by working on other program homes. The legislation corrects this interpretation by HUD and clarifies Congress' intent to permit organizations like Habitat for Humanity to allow their homeowners to work on other homes to fulfill their sweat equity requirements. Each Habitat for Humanity Chapter has established its own requirement for sweat equity hours. The Habitat for Humanity chapter in Grand Island, Nebraska, requires their homeowners to put in 500 hours of sweat equity. Mr. Speaker, there have been several instances where the homeowners have put most of their sweat equity into other Habitat for Humanity Homes to fulfill the 500 hour requirement.”