Community Connections Receives $25,863 Dollars in Federal Grants
By Garrett Christensen on Monday, August 29th, 2022 in More Top Stories Northeastern Oregon News
EASTERN OREGON – (Release from Community Connections) The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Office of Housing Counseling is announcing that it has awarded $41.3 million in grants to support the vital services performed by the nation’s housing counselors. The announcement includes $25,863 to Community Connection of Northeast Oregon, Inc. in La Grande and $55,048 to Open Door Counseling Center in Hillsboro. The awards include $38.6 million in second-year housing counseling grants to 173 HUD-approved local housing counseling agencies, national and regional organizations, multi-state organizations, and state housing finance agencies who were awarded grants under the September 18, 2021, Office of Housing Counseling two-year Comprehensive Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO). The Office also awarded an additional $2.75 million in second-year funding for six HUD-approved housing counseling agencies that received awards under HUD’s November 2, 2021, Office of Housing Counseling Training NOFO.
“Today’s awards provide important funding for housing counseling agencies that are performing crucial services for individuals and families across the nation,” said Assistant Secretary for Housing and Federal Housing Commissioner Julia Gordon. “Maintaining and funding a network of quality housing counseling resources through our Office of Housing Counseling is a key piece of achieving HUD’s goals to reduce barriers and promote equity in housing.”
This funding will continue to support vital housing counseling services performed by these agencies, including pre-purchase homebuyer counseling, foreclosure prevention counseling, rental eviction prevention counseling, and disaster recovery counseling, among others.
“We are pleased to provide this second year of funding to support HUD-approved Housing Counseling Agencies in fulfilling their many roles, including helping families maintain housing stability as the nation recovers from the pandemic,” said Deputy Assistant Secretary for Housing Counseling David Berenbaum.
The $2.75 million in grants awarded today under the Office of Housing Counseling Training NOFO support education and training for housing counselors, including training on delivering housing counseling services to seniors seeking reverse mortgages under the Federal Housing Administration’s Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) program and training to support successful completion of the HUD Housing Counselor Certification exam. $302,500 of these funds were specifically awarded to two recipient organizations that will issue training scholarships to students of Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Tribal Colleges and Universities, and other Minority Serving Institutions enrolled in a housing counseling workforce development program.
About HUD-Approved Housing Counseling Agencies
HUD-approved housing counseling agencies provide services to address a full range of housing counseling needs. These services include assisting homebuyers in evaluating their readiness for a home purchase and navigating through the homebuying process, find affordable rental housing, offer financial literacy training to individuals and families, and provide foreclosure prevention counseling. In addition to providing counseling to homeowners and renters, HUD-approved housing counseling agencies support emergency preparedness and disaster recovery efforts, assist homeless persons in finding transitional housing, and help seniors determine whether a HECM or other reverse mortgage makes sense for them.
To locate a HUD-approved housing counseling agency, visit HUD’s online locator or call (800) 569-4287 to use our interactive telephone locator service.
