HUD PRESENTS BRIGHTON CENTER WITH $94,431 HOUSING COUNSELING GRANT CHECK
Funding will serve clients seeking critical housing support

LOUISVILLE - As a result of the funding announced today, hundreds of households will have a greater opportunity to find housing or keep the homes they have because of the housing counseling grant check awarded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to Brighton Center, Incorporated, in Newport, Kentucky. Brighton Center will offer comprehensive counseling services, mortgage scams and mortgage modification counseling, and reverse mortgage counseling for seniors. See links below for detailed information on each grant.

"I am pleased that the Brighton Center was successful in receiving all three of these housing counseling grants," said Krista Mills, HUD Louisville Field Office Director. "Brighton Center's success translates to more Kentuckians served in ways that help to stabilize their families, their neighborhoods and provide them hope."

Housing counseling grants will assist families in becoming first-time homeowners and remaining homeowners after their purchase. HUD-approved counseling agencies not only provide homeownership counseling, but also offer financial literacy training to renters and homeless individuals and families.

"When I see a grant as significant as this," says Robert Brewster, Executive Director of Brighton Center, "I see a course set in which we can partner with families and support them in seeking the best quality of life possible. These funds bolster our efforts to educate families on making sound financial decisions, provide them with opportunities to build assets, and preserve the vitality of the community by protecting families’ most cherished assets, their homes."

The organizations that provide housing counseling services help people become or remain homeowners or find rental housing, and assist homeless persons in finding the transitional housing they need to move toward a permanent place to live. Grant recipients also help homebuyers and homeowners realistically evaluate their readiness for a home purchase, understand their financing and downpayment options, and navigate what can be an extremely confusing and difficult process.

In addition, grantees help combat predatory lending by helping unwary borrowers review their loan documentation, and avoid potential mortgage scams, unreasonably high interest rates, inflated appraisals, unaffordable repayment terms, and other conditions that can result in a loss of equity, increased debt, default, and even foreclosure. Likewise, foreclosure prevention counseling helps homeowners facing delinquency or default employ strategies, including expense reduction, negotiation with lenders and loan servicers, and loss mitigation, to avoid foreclosure. With foreclosures at critical levels nationwide, these services are more important than ever.

HUD awards annual grants under the housing counseling program through a competitive process. Organizations that apply for grants must be HUD-approved and are subject to performance reviews to maintain their HUD-approved status.

For a list of all grants, organized by state, visit HUD's website.
For summary of each grant, organized by state, visit HUD's website.

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HUD's mission is to create strong, sustainable, inclusive communities and quality affordable homes for all. HUD is working to strengthen the housing market to bolster the economy and protect consumers; meet the need for quality affordable rental homes: utilize housing as a platform for improving quality of life; build inclusive and sustainable communities free from discrimination; and transform the way HUD does business. More information about HUD and its programs is available on the Internet at www.hud.gov and espanol.hud.gov. You can also follow HUD on Twitter at @HUDnews or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/HUD, or sign up for news alerts on HUD's News Listserv.