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

clients—9.8 hours on average compared to 7.7 hours on average for agencies serving predominantly
near or short-term ready clients.
Exhibit 6-5.
Distribution of Agencies by Homeownership Readiness Status of Clients
Share of All Agencies
(N=906)
Average Hours Per
Client (N=893)
Mix of Near, Predominan
Predominantly Predominantly Short-term, tly
Near or Short- Long-term and Long-term Unknown All
term Ready Ready Ready Status Agencies
36% 31% 26% 7% 100%
7.7 9.8 8.3 7.2 8.5
Distribution of Agencies by Predominant Approach to Counseling
Predominantly
Workshops Only 39% 24% 24% 13% 100%
(N=902)
Predominantly
Counseling Only 37% 36% 18% 9% 100%
(N=902)
Predominantly Both
Workshops and 36% 32% 29% 4% 100%
Counseling (N=902)
Mixed Approach
(N=902)
31% 33% 32% 5% 100%
Source: Abt Associates survey of HUD-approved counseling agencies.
Note: “N=” indicates number of survey respondents for that category.
Finally, Exhibit 6-5 also shows the distribution of agencies across the homeownership readiness
status categories for each type of agency by their predominant approach to providing counseling.
One difference that stands out is that agencies the predominantly provide workshops are somewhat
less likely to serve mostly long-term ready clients. These agencies are also more likely to have a
majority of clients whose homeownership readiness status is unknown, reflecting the fact that absent
individual counseling they cannot assess the homeownership readiness status.
Assessment of Clients’ Needs
Another way in which agencies may vary in their approach to delivering services to pre-purchase
clients is the extent to which they conduct an assessment of their clients’ circumstances in order to
tailor the specific services provided to meet their specific needs. The agency survey asked whether
most clients served in the past 12 months received a standard set of services without a needs
assessment, whether clients’ needs were assessed using a formal process driven by a checklist or
software, or whether clients’ needs were assessed using an informal process without the aid of
checklists or software. As shown in Exhibit 6-6, 39 percent of agencies reported that they provide
most clients with a standard set of services without conducting a needs assessment. Of the remainder,
37 percent conduct a formal needs assessment prior to determining which services to offer the client,
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Chapter 6. Characteristics of Education and Counseling Services