Housing Counseling Process Evaluation and Design of ... - HUD User

Exhibit 6-1.
Estimated Number of Hours of Services for Typical Clients
Group Sessions
One-on-One
Counseling Case Management
Total
Hours
Type of Client Median Range Median Range Median Range Median
Workshop
Pre-purchase Homebuyers ( N=770) 8.0 5 – 8 1.5 0 – 3 1.0 0.5 – 2 10.0
Post-purchase Homeowners (N=240) 2.0 2 – 4 1.0 0 – 2.5 1.0 0.5 – 2 5.7
Predatory Lending (N=198) 2.0 2 – 3 1.0 0 – 2 1.0 0 – 2 4.0
Fair Housing Issues (N=114) 1.0 0.5 – 2 1.0 1 – 2 1.0 0.5 – 2 4.0
Counseling
Pre-purchase homebuyers ( N=823) 2.0 0 – 6 2.0 2 – 5 2.0 1 – 3 8.0
Mortgage Deli nquency ( N=560) 0.0 0 – 2 3.0 2 – 5 2.0 1 – 4 7.0
Home Equity Conversion Mortgages
(N=234)
0.0 0 – 0 2.0 1 – 2 1.0 0.5 – 2 3.0
Mortgage refinancing/home
improvement (N=289)
0.0 0 – 1 2.0 1 – 3 1.0 1 – 2 4.0
Renters (N=464) 0.0 0 – 2 2.0 1 – 3 1.0 1 – 2 4.0
Homeless (N=210)
0.0 0 – 1 1.5 1 – 3 1.0 1 – 2 4.0
Source: Abt Associates survey of HUD-approved counseling agencies.
Notes: Respondents were asked to estimate the number of hours of services received by the "typical" client of
each type. "Typical" was defined as the process followed by the majority of the agency's clients.
"Range" shows the 25th and 75th percentile responses. Median for “Total Hours” is estimated by first summing
responses for each service category for each respondent and then estimating the median total hours. For this
reason, the sum of the medians for each service category does not equal the median Total Hours.
Counseling clients of all types generally receive two hours of counseling, with delinquency
counseling somewhat longer (three hours) and homeless counseling slightly shorter (1.5 hours).
However, there is a fairly broad range across agencies in the duration of both pre-purchase and
delinquency counseling, with a range of between two and five hours across agencies for both types of
counseling. All other types of counseling have a range of one to three hours across agencies. Clients
that primarily receive counseling generally do not attend workshops, with the exception of prepurchase
clients, for whom two hours of group sessions are typically combined with two hours of
counseling. Again, there is a fairly broad range in the use of workshops in conjunction with prepurchase
counseling clients, with a range from zero to six hours across agencies. (The intensity of
pre-purchase education and counseling is examined in more detail in the next section of this chapter.)
In addition to time spent with clients, providing education and counseling services also entails a
variety of case management activities when the client is not present. These activities include
scheduling meetings, recording data, conducting follow up, and advocating with other organizations
on the clients’ behalf. Agencies report that most clients require about one hour of case management.
Pre-purchase and delinquency counseling clients have somewhat higher case management demands,
with a median of two hours per client. In general, case management time ends up accounting for onequarter
to one-third of the total hours spent serving the typical client.
Mortgage delinquency counseling clients have the broadest range of case management time (one to
four hours), with agencies at the 75 th percentile reporting four hours of case management time. The
more intensive case management for these clients likely reflects the need for advocacy on behalf of
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Chapter 6. Characteristics of Education and Counseling Services