The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced that it is providing $40 million in grant money to organizations that provide counseling to prospective homebuyers.
“We know that housing counseling can make all the difference in purchasing and, most importantly, keeping a home. The grants we offer today will help ensure families and individuals make more informed housing decisions, whether it means buying their first home, avoiding foreclosure, or finding affordable rental housing,” HUD Secretary Julian Castro said in prepared statements when the grants were announced.
The counseling funding grants will be competed through HUD’s two-year (FY 2016 – FY 2017) Comprehensive Housing Counseling Grant Program Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA).The funding will be available to national and regional organizations, state housing finance agencies and other local agencies that provide assistance to low- and moderate-income families. They can be used to help prospective buyers assess and evaluate potential homes, and to help families locate affordable rental housing, or even to help families avoid foreclosure.
In addition to providing counseling to homeowners and renters, agencies also assist the homeless in finding transitional housing, provide foreclosure prevention counseling for homeowners facing delinquency or default, as well as help elderly homeowners navigate reverse mortgages.
“Grantees also assist senior citizens seeking reverse mortgages, providing counseling for the rapidly growing number of elderly homeowners who want to convert equity in their homes into income that can be used to pay for home improvements, medical costs, and other living expenses,” HUD said in a release.
The deadline for submitting grant applications is April 4. The funding report can be found here.
Cover Story: