HUD No. 00-325 | |
Further Information: | For Release |
In the Washington, DC area: 202/708-0685 | Tuesday |
Or contact your local HUD office | November 28, 2000 |
CUOMO ANNOUNCES $6.5 MILLION IN HOUSING COUNSELING GRANTS TO PROMOTE HOMEOWNERSHIP AND COMBAT PREDATORY LENDING
WASHINGTON As part of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Developments on-going efforts to promote homeownership and combat predatory lending, HUD Secretary Andrew Cuomo today awarded $6.5 million in housing counseling assistance grants to 12 national, regional and multi-state intermediary agencies.
The 12 intermediary agencies, Cuomo said, distribute the HUD funding to grassroots level affiliates and branches that provide low- and moderate-income individuals with advice about buying and owning a home. In addition, the intermediaries help improve the quality of housing counseling services and enhance coordination among housing counseling providers.
HUDs housing counseling grants enable anyone -- current homeowners, prospective buyers or renters -- to get the counseling they need to improve their housing conditions and be responsible owners and renters. By improving the quality of renter and homeowner education, the competitive grants help families make better, more informed home purchases; improve their ability to budget for needed home expenses and regular mortgage or rent payments; and, make the lending process less frightening.
"These 12 grants will help take the mystery out of homeownership for thousands of Americans so that they, too, can be part of the American dream and own a home," Cuomo said, "They are another example of how HUD is working with non-profit groups and the housing industry to increase homeownership across the nation."
Housing counselors offer consumers advice
and guidance on a wide variety of housing topics, ranging from providing
information on the homebuying process and financing a home to personal budgeting
and credit repair; from default assistance and foreclosure avoidance to
fair housing rights; from meeting the responsibilities of tenancy to obtaining
a home equity conversion mortgage.
The 12 HUD-approved intermediaries receiving
grants are:
Catholic Charities USA | Alexandria, | VA | $572,409 |
Citizens Housing and Planning Association, | Boston, | MA | $418,143 |
National Association of Housing Partnerships, | Boston, | MA | $633,463 |
West Tennessee Legal Services, Inc., | Jackson, | TN | $372,024 |
Housing Opportunities, Inc., | McKeesport, | PA | $522,467 |
National Urban League, | New York, | NY | $563,201 |
National Association of Real Estate Brokers, | Oakland, | CA | $393,876 |
ACORN Housing Corporation, | Philadelphia, | PA | $597,474 |
National Foundation for Consumer Credit, | Silver Spring, | MD | $675,770 |
Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation, | Washington, | DC | $670,086 |
National Council of La Raza, | Washington, | DC | $558,878 |
The Congress of National Black Churches, | Washington, | DC | $522,209 |
HUD awards annual grants under this program through a competitive process.
Organizations that apply for grants must be HUD-approved and are subject
to biannual performance reviews to maintain their HUD-approved status.
Attached are individual grant project summaries. They are also posted on the HUD website.
ALEXANDRIA, VA
Catholic Charities USA
$572,409
All 29 affiliates will continue providing housing counseling services that
include: outreach services to increase the awareness of homeownership opportunities;
homebuying education for first-time homebuyers and the Home Equity Conversion
Mortgage (HECM) for eligible persons 62 or older. Catholic Charities USA
is a religiously affiliated organization and its housing counseling program
has been in existence since 1994.
BOSTON, MA
Citizens Housing and Planning Association
$418,143
CHAPA and its affiliates tailor their services to meet the needs of low
and moderate income households in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode
Island and Vermont. CHAPAs counseling services cover all aspects of
purchasing a home, post-purchase counseling and education which focuses
on sustaining homeownership, delinquency and default counseling. In addition,
CHAPA has conducted extensive outreach to low and moderate income households
to participate in a homebuyer program by working with local churches, service
organizations, government agencies and others concentrating their efforts
on those people traditionally underserved in the homeownership market.
National Association of Housing Partnerships
$633,463
NAHP proposed to continue and expand the housing counseling activities in
the area of: increasing homeownership among low- and moderate-income households,
especially minority households and traditionally underserved populations
to ensure that households have the information and support to maintain their
homes and build equity for the future, and to support neighborhood stabilization
and revitalization by increasing responsible single-family and multiplex
homeownership.
JACKSON, TN
West Tennessee Legal Services, Inc.
$372,024
WTLS and its affiliates in conjunction with the MidSouth Project will provide
comprehensive housing counseling services that will include: pre-purchase
counseling to first-time homebuyers; counseling to persons 62 years and
older on the availability of funds through Home Equity Conversion Mortgage
(HECM); pre-rental counseling with emphasis upon HUD and rural housing rent
subsidy programs; promote awareness of and education concerning rights and
remedies to persons who experience discriminatory housing practices; assist
tenants and homeowners with meeting their responsibilities of tenancy and
of homeownership.
McKEESPORT, PA
Housing Opportunities, Inc.
$522,467
HOI proposes to provide housing counseling agencies with resources to serve
the unique housing needs of their community. HOI and its affiliates have
counseling experience in family budgeting, Home Equity Conversion Mortgage
(HECM) eligibility and guidelines for senior citizens, loss mitigation,
money management, foreclosure prevention, pre-purchase, and rental counseling.
NEW YORK, NY
National Urban League
$563,201
To assist in expanding homeownership opportunities, NUL and its affiliates
will conduct interviews, information referral, hold two-hour homebuyer education
seminars and provide 16 to 20 hours of individual pre-purchasing counseling
sessions. Recently their Hartford Urban League along with several local
banks have developed flexible underwriting criteria that enabled 300 loans
to be made to low and moderate income residents in Hartford, CT. NUL is
working with FannieMae to develop a mortgage instrument flexible enough
to accommodate the lower income in other areas.
OAKLAND, CA
National Association of Real Estate Brokers
$393,876
NAREB proposes to educate individuals about the opportunities available
for homeownership, the homebuyer process, prepare prospective homebuyers
for the responsibilities of owning a home, offer information and support
to homeowners in danger of losing their homes, and create networks and linkages
between housing professionals that will insure increased homeownership among
their targeted audience.
PHILADELPHIA, PA
Acorn Housing Corp.
$597,474
AHC has developed a program that targets low and moderate income communities
in each of the cities it serves which will enable its affiliates to work
closely with families and individuals to help them qualify for a new or
refinance an existing mortgage, qualify for home improvement loans, mortgage
or develop delinquency payment strategy.
SILVER SPRING, MD
National Foundation for Consumer Credit
$675,770
NFCC proposes to continue to provide comprehensive counseling and related
services to meet the needs of local people in the communities that member
affiliates serve, which will include: Homebuyer education; pre-purchase
homeownership and post-purchase mortgage delinquency and default resolution;
Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM); loss mitigation; outreach initiatives;
renter assistance and budgeting and credit counseling.
WASHINGTON, DC
Neighborhood Reinvestment Corp.
$670,086
NRC will provide program oversight, training and management while its 82
affiliates provide housing counseling which includes: homebuyer education;
pre-purchase homeownership; post-purchase; mortgage delinquency and default
resolution; marketing and outreach in targeted areas; special needs for
senior citizens, renter assistance counseling and fair housing assistance.
National Council of La Raza
$558,878
NCLR proposes to continue to provide housing counseling to low- and moderate-income
Hispanics who lack knowledge about the homeownership process and are unaware
of the resources and programs that are available to first-time homebuyers.
The Congress of National Black Churches,
Inc.
$522,209
To reach racial and ethnic minorities and individuals with disabilities
as well as those historically underserved populations in urban and rural
settings, CNBC proposes a counseling plan that will promote fair housing
by removing barriers to information that deter many Americans from seeking,
buying, insuring or maintaining a home in a neighborhood of their choice;
improve the quality, effectiveness and availability of pre/post-purchase
counseling and education by delivering the services within the communities
most in need of help and foster a greater coordination among the local real
estate brokers, lenders and providers of homeownership counseling and education
services.