BUSH ADMINISTRATION ANNOUNCES $44.1 MILLION IN HOUSING COUNSELING GRANTS TO NEARLY 400 NATIONAL, STATE AND LOCAL AGENCIES
$157,000 to 2 agencies in South Dakota

WASHINGTON - Approximately 700,000 families will have a greater opportunity to find housing or keep the homes
they have because of more than $44 million in housing counseling and counseling training grants announced today
by Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson.

South Dakota agencies receiving counseling grants are:

South Dakota Housing Development Authority, Pierre: $97,760
Oglala Sioux Tribe Partnership for Housing, Inc., Pine Ridge: $59,769

Housing counseling grants will assist families in becoming first-time homeowners and remaining homeowners after
their purchase. Renters and homeless individuals and families will also benefit from the counseling offered by the grants. These grants, totaling over $41 million, were awarded to 19 national and regional organizations and nearly
370 state and local housing counseling agencies.

Housing counseling training grants will help approximately 2,600 counselors receive the instruction and certification necessary to effectively assist families with their housing needs. These grants, totaling $3 million, were awarded to two national organizations.

"This Administration strongly believes in the value of housing counseling services," said Jackson. "These organizations help families make informed choices before they take the important step of homeownership. They also provide a service that is vital in today's mortgage market - they counsel families facing foreclosure and advise them about
their options."

National and regional agencies distribute much of HUD's housing counseling grant funding to community-based grassroots organizations that provide advice and guidance to low- and moderate-income families seeking to improve their housing conditions. In addition, these larger organizations help improve the quality of housing counseling
services and enhance coordination among other counseling providers.

Of the more than $41 million in housing counseling grants, $3 million is being awarded in supplemental funding for
Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) counseling. These funds will provide counseling for the rapidly growing number of elderly homeowners who seek to convert equity in their homes into income that can be used to pay for home improvements, medical costs, and other living expenses.

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 avoid 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 on the rise 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 biennial performance reviews to maintain their HUD-approved status.

HUD is the nation's housing agency committed to increasing homeownership, particularly among minorities; creating affordable housing opportunities for low-income Americans; and supporting the homeless, elderly, people with disabilities and people living with AIDS. The Department also promotes economic and community development, and enforces the nation's fair housing laws. More information about HUD and its programs is available on the Internet
and espanol.hud.gov.

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South Dakota Housing Development Authority
Pierre, SD
$97,760.16 - Comprehensive Counseling

South Dakota Housing Development Authority (SDHDA) was created in 1973 by the State Legislature and offers residents a variety of affordable homeownership and rental housing opportunities. SDHDA has taken an active role
in working to end homelessness in South Dakota. SDHDA is totally self-supporting and receives no tax money, appropriations or other funding from the State.

For the past ten years SDHDA has administered HUD's Housing Counseling Grant Program for various housing counseling service providers statewide. To date, SDHDA has disbursed more than $1,000,000 through this program benefiting over 27,000 South Dakota residents with housing counseling and education services.

This year's funded Sub-Grantees/affiliates under the Housing Counseling Grant Program are the Northeast South Dakota Community Action Program in Sisseton, Huron Housing and Redevelopment Authority in Huron, Sioux Empire Housing Partnership in Sioux Falls, Consumer Credit Counseling Services of the Black Hills and Teton Coalition, Inc.
in Rapid City, and Neighborhood Housing Services of the Black Hills in Deadwood.

The Oglala Sioux Tribe Partnership for Housing, Inc.
Pine Ridge, SD
$59,769.49 - Comprehensive Counseling

The Oglala Sioux Tribe Partnership for Housing, Inc. (OSTPH, Inc.) is a non-profit organization, which was approved
by the Oglala Sioux Lakota Tribal laws and incorporated in the State of South Dakota.

The OSTPH, Inc.'s primary mission is to enhance and provide affordable homeownership opportunities to the tribal members of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. The OSTPH, Inc. was approved as a HUD Housing Counseling Agency
in 2000, and has provided housing counseling and educational programs to over one thousand and three hundred (1,300) tribal members, with counseling services. The OSTPH, Inc. has assisted one hundred and five (105) homebuyers with the purchase of their home.

The OSTPH, Inc. has provided ongoing post housing counseling programs, after the home has been purchased. The OSTPH, Inc. realizes that due to the low income history of the tribal members, the occurrences of predatory lending are quite high. The OSTPH, Inc. has developed a predatory lending program, along with a housing counseling
program, and will continue to provide that program to its tribal members to assist them with recognition and acknowledgement of predatory lending activities.