Who are HUD approved Housing Counselors?

Who are HUD approved Housing Counselors?
HUD’s (Department of Housing and Urban Development) Housing Counseling program that has been authorized under Section 106 of the Housing and Urban Development Act of 1968 permits certain organizations approved by HUD, to provide information, assistance and counseling to all the prospective home buyers, home owners and tenants of federally-assisted and conventionally-mortgaged housing. There are about 750 HUD approved housing counseling agencies all across the United States. These agencies cater housing counseling on buying, renting, defaults and foreclosures. All the home owners facing problems with their mortgages should consult these housing counselors to avoid foreclosure.

These certified counselors can help you with the following:
• Help you to understand about the home or the property; they can guide you through the buying process and help you to decide on the mortgage amount that is affordable for you without making any sacrifices towards your lifestyle. You may have to pay some fees if you are looking for a certificate for first time homebuyer programs.
• The counselors can also help you if you have missed out on mortgage or having difficulty in HUD assisted rent. These professionals can work with your creditors and lenders, understand your options and save you from getting evicted from your house.
• If you are a senior citizen and want to stay in your home, but having difficulty in paying the property taxes, these counselors can assist you by explaining the scheme of reverse mortgage and how they can help you.

How can one become a HUD certified housing counselor?
At present, HUD does not provide any certification to individual counselors; only housing counseling agencies can be certified.

What are the advantages of becoming a HUD approved housing counseling agency?
There are quite a few advantages of becoming a HUD approved counseling agency. In order to get a certification from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, an agency has to meet certain industry standards and federal guidelines. These guidelines are becoming increasingly popular and are considered to be benchmarks for participation in variety of public and private housing programs.

Moreover, HUD makes funding available for certain HUD approved agencies; a Housing Counseling Notice of Funding Availability or NOFA is published once a year by HUD in the Federal Register. This is done to pledge for proposals from all those HUD approved agencies that wish to compete for the available grant funds. However, not all the HUD approved agencies are provided with funds; approximately one third of all the HUD approved agencies across the nation receive these grants.

What is housing counseling?
According to the HUD, counseling is an activity involving a counselor–to-client or counselor-to-group, during which the counselor performs either one or all of the actions discussed below:
► Conducting an interview with the client in a private space and in a confidential manner to gather some basic information about the client and his problems related to the property.
► Chalks out a counseling plan on behalf of the client.
► Explains the plan to the client and seeks his consent to carry it out and also advices him on what are the steps he should take.
► Recommends additional private or group counseling sessions if required.
► Finally sorts out the client’s problem in the best possible manner.