El Semanario - $79 million in grants for housing counseling

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced that $79 million is available for a broad range of housing counseling programs to help families find and preserve housing. The available funding is an increase of $21 million, or 27 percent, over last year. These grants will be awarded competitively to hundreds of HUD-approved counseling agencies and State Housing Finance Agencies across the nation that offer a variety of services including how to avoid foreclosure, how to avoid mortgage scams, how to purchase or rent a home, how to improve credit scores, and how to qualify for a reverse mortgage.
�The counseling programs this funding will support are crucial in helping thousands of families avoid foreclosure and remain in their homes,� said HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan. �Every day, our HUD-approved counseling organizations help families to make more informed choices about buying or renting.�
HUD-approved counseling agencies provide homeownership counseling as well as financial literacy education to renters and homeless individuals and families. This year HUD�s Housing Counseling Grant program will provide approximately $55 million for comprehensive counseling; $9.5 million for Reverse Mortgage Counseling, and $14.5 million for supplemental funding for Mortgage Modification and Mortgage Scam Assistance. There will also be a heightened focus on providing services in languages other than English.
HUD is determined to do more to reach out to enhance bilingual counseling. The FY 2010 funding notice was significantly revised to emphasize, and allow HUD to factor into application scoring, activities that benefit individuals with limited English proficiency, including Hispanics. For example, applicants are required to identify bilingual counselors, and specific services, such as marketing and outreach efforts and counseling services, in languages other than English. The scoring instruction on awarding this year�s grants will be designed to recognize and reward serious and effective bilingual counseling services.
Instructions are posted on Grants.gov. To apply, go to https://apply07.grants.gov/apply/forms_apps_idx.html and enter 14.169 in the CFDA field. Applications must be submitted electronically through Grants.gov. The application deadline is 11:59:59 pm eastern time on August 27. If applicants have difficulty accessing the information, they may obtain assistance by calling the help desk hotline at 800-518-GRANTS or by e-mailing support@grants.gov. The Grants.gov help desk is available 24 hours a day, 7 days per week, except federal holidays.