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

clients for two years or more, I strongly oppose 'certification' for this group.” (Community
development organization in PA)
Staff Retention
In addition to staff training and expertise, the survey asked about the extent to which staff retention is
a problem for counseling agencies. The survey results suggest that staff retention is a substantial
problem for about one third of agencies surveyed. Overall, 16 percent of agencies identify staff
retention as an extremely significant problem, 18 percent identify it as a moderately significant
problem, and 16 percent identify it as a slightly significant problem. Analysis of the survey responses
by agency mission type, counseling specialization, and agency size suggests that the largest agencies
are most likely to view staff retention as a problem. Overall, 51 percent of agencies that serve at least
5,000 clients per year identify staff retention as an extremely significant or moderately significant
issue.
Among the few agencies that mentioned staff retention in their comments on the survey, the biggest
concern was the inability to compensate trained and experienced staff sufficiently. In the words of
two such agencies:
“One of the largest challenges is being able to retain trained staff because of a lack of funding
for salaries. Counselors are willing to be trained and want to do a good job but do not feel
that are properly compensated for the amount of work involved.” (Community action agency
in Alabama)
“The turnover in this industry is quite high because the non-profits lack of funding to train
and retain staff beyond two years. Thus, HUD funding should include sufficient allowance
for agency staff to be paid affordable wages and benefits for retention purposes.”
(Community development corporation in Nevada)
Summary
This chapter presented a profile of the individuals who provide housing counseling services – their
race, ethnicity, and gender, level of education, years of experience providing counseling, and housing
counseling training. It also discussed the staff-related issues currently facing counseling agencies.
In terms of race, housing counselors are quite similar to housing counseling clients. Fifty-six percent
of all counselors reported in the survey are white and 38 percent are black, compared to 54 percent
and 35 percent of counseling clients served by HUD-approved agencies in 2007. Counselors are
somewhat more likely than clients to be Hispanic—26 percent versus 19 percent.
Overall, a majority of housing counselors are college educated—with 65 percent holding a two- or
four-year college degree and another 25 percent having attended some college. Among the agency
mission types, only agencies whose primary mission is housing counseling have fewer than average
counselors with four-year college degrees. In terms of counseling specialization, agencies who serve
mostly post-purchase clients or that serve a mix of client types (“no specialization”) have the highest
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Chapter 8. Characteristics of Housing Counselors