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

counseling services from HUD-approved agencies in 2007, 54 percent are white, 36 percent are black
or African American, 5 percent are another race, and 6 percent are two or more races. About one fifth
of counseling clients served in 2007 are Hispanic.
Most clients that receive counseling services from HUD-approved agencies are very-low-income or
low-income. Half the clients served in 2007 had incomes below 50 percent of area median income
(AMI) and another 30 percent had incomes between 50 and 80 percent of AMI. Among the different
agency types, legal assistance agencies and agencies with a broad social service mission are more
likely than agencies with other missions to serve an average client with income below 50 percent of
AMI. In terms of counseling specialization, agencies that mainly provide rental counseling and
counseling to homeless clients are most likely to serve clients with incomes below 50 percent of AMI,
while agencies primarily serving pre-purchase homebuyer clients are least likely to serve this type of
client.
All HUD-approved counseling agencies are required to follow-up with clients to connect them to
additional services as needed and to learn about client outcomes. There is much industry support for
getting better data on client outcomes, but in practice it is very difficult to do. Obstacles include a
lack of dedicated funding for follow-up activities and the challenge of making contact with former
clients who may have moved or may not want to share additional information. Across all types of
counseling services, follow-up is most commonly done by telephone. Other methods include inperson
interviews, mail surveys, email, and contacts with other service providers.
HUD requires agencies to report on outcomes for five types of counseling clients. However, through
FY 2007, the data was reported at an aggregate level for an agency and not at the client level, making
it difficult to interpret. The information on client outcomes available from HUD for FY 2007 can be
summarized as follows:
• Of the more than 300,000 clients receiving pre-purchase counseling, just under one-third
had completed the counseling at the time of reporting. Most clients were reported to be
still pursuing counseling and homeownership over varying timeframes. Of the clients
who completed counseling, the vast majority purchased housing.
• More than 260,000 clients sought help with resolving or preventing mortgage
delinquency and about half completed counseling within the fiscal year. About 45
percent of the clients that completed counseling were able to remain in their homes
following the counseling, about 14 percent were not able to remain in their homes, and
outcomes were not known for the remaining 41 percent.
• Overall, 54 percent of 110,000 reverse mortgage and mortgage refinance clients
completed their counseling within the year and resolved their issue in some way, 4
percent were counseled and referred to another agency for help, and 12 percent were still
receiving counseling. About 65,000 clients, or 60 percent of those that completed
counseling, took out a HECM. Another common outcome is to have completed financial
management or budget counseling.
• Of the 380,000 clients that received rental counseling, about three-quarters completed the
counseling, including about one-quarter that were referred to another agency for
assistance. Of the clients that completed counseling and were not referred to another
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Executive Summary