Rounds, Tester Legislation to Improve Homeownership Opportunities for Native American Veterans Passes Committee
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) and Jon Tester (D-Mont.), member and Chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, applauded passage of their bipartisan Native American Direct Loan (NADL) Improvement Act through the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee this past week. The senators’ legislation aims to help Native American veterans achieve homeownership.
“Homeownership is part of the American dream and a key to building wealth,” said Rounds. “This legislation seeks to improve the NADL program and offers enhanced outreach and other assistance as needed to Native American veterans who are looking to qualify for mortgage financing. By creating expanded access for Native American veterans, our bill will help make the dream of homeownership a reality. I thank my colleagues on the committee for their bipartisan support of our legislation and look forward to working across the aisle to get this bill signed into law.”
This legislation would reform the NADL program administered by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and make it more accessible to Native American veterans living on trust land.
The NADL Improvement Act:
- Allows Native American veterans to use the NADL program to refinance other existing mortgages on the same property.
- Expands the VA’s existing NADL program outreach to include collaborating with local service providers that are familiar with the mortgage lending process on trust land, which would offer homebuyer education and housing counseling to assist Native American veterans who are looking to qualify for mortgage financing.
- Creates a relending program to allow Native Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) to obtain loans through the NADL program and relend those funds to qualified Native American veterans.
Rounds and Tester also introduced this legislation in the 117th Congress.
Click HERE for full bill text.
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