June 17, 2015
We write a great deal about the importance of housing counseling–especially for first time FHA loan applicants who might need some additional help with questions about the home buying process in general, getting credit ready for an FHA loan application, and what it takes to apply for a home loan after a bankruptcy or foreclosure.
Yesterday HUD announced a new round of grants for housing counseling agencies that provide such services to FHA borrowers and other home loan applicants.
HUDNo.15-074 announced nearly six million dollars in housing counseling grants, including “nearly $1.5 million to new housing counseling grantees and $4.5 million to supplement the funding awarded in April to existing grantees” according to the HUD press release. You can examine a comprehensive summary of each grant, organized by state as a downloadable PDF file.
“Whether you’re a first-time buyer or trying to keep the place you’ve always called home, knowledge is the key to financial empowerment,” said HUD Secretary Julin Castro as quoted in the HUD press release. He adds, “We’re proud to support our housing counseling partners as they help American families achieve stability and prosperity.”
The release explains how the grant money is distributed, which includes a network of agencies across the country. “National and regional agencies distribute much of HUD’s housing counseling grant funding to community-based organizations that assist low- and moderate-income families to improve their housing conditions. In addition, these larger organizations help improve the quality of housing counseling services and enhance coordination among counseling providers.
The press release emphasizes the need for housing counseling–many borrowers have unanswered questions going into the home loan process that can be answered ahead of time. “Grant recipients utilize funding to address the full range of families’ housing counseling needs.This includes helping homebuyers 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.”
Borrowers interested in housing counseling should contact the FHA directly at 1-800 CALL FHA to request a referral to a HUD-approved agency.
Joe Wallace has been specializing in military and personal finance topics since 1995. His work has appeared on Air Force Television News, The Pentagon Channel, ABC and a variety of print and online publications. He is a 13-year Air Force veteran and a member of the Air Force Public Affairs Alumni Association. He was Managing editor for www.valoans.com for (8) years and is currently the Associate Editor for FHANewsblog.com.
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