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

Appendix A.
Interviews with Intermediaries and
State Housing Finance Agencies
During the summer of 2007, we conducted in-depth interviews with key staff from 60 organizations
that fund housing counseling activities or otherwise work with local agencies that provide housing
counseling. We interviewed 18 of the 20 national and regional intermediaries that received grants
through the HUD Housing Counseling Program in FY 2007. 57 We also interviewed all 17 of the
SHFAs that received HUD Housing Counseling grants that year. In addition, we interviewed 25
organizations (including SHFAs) that did not receive HUD Housing Counseling grants in FY 2007
(although they may have in previous years) but that play a role in the housing counseling industry.
Exhibit A-1 lists the 60 organizations interviewed.
The main goal of the interviews was to understand in detail the role that intermediaries, SHFAs, and
other organizations play in supporting the housing counseling industry and working with local
counseling agencies. Another objective was to gather perspectives on the current challenges facing
the industry and most appropriate role for HUD to play in supporting the industry. Among the topics
covered in the interviews were:
• The structure of the housing counseling industry, including funding relationships and
other types of support provided to local counseling agency affiliates;
• Funding sources for their organization and their affiliates, and views on the importance of
HUD funding to the industry and potential other approaches for funding counseling;
• Requirements for local counseling affiliates in terms of counseling methods, curricula,
and counselor qualifications, and views regarding best practices for counseling services
and the use of technology for housing counseling;
• Opinions on the need for standardization and regulation of the industry and the most
appropriate organizations to serve this function;
• Key challenges for the industry, likely future trends, and views on key policy issues,
including the most useful role for HUD to play in supporting the industry; and
• Willingness of affiliates to participate in an experimental design study of counseling
impacts and opinions on whether pre-purchase counseling is the correct focus of such a
study.
The interviews were done in person for those organizations located in the Washington DC and Boston
areas and by telephone for all other organizations. The interviews were conducted as semi-structured
discussions, with interview guides providing the core topics and questions to be covered. (Separate
57
We were not able to interview two FY 2007 grantees: National Association of Real Estate Brokers—
Investment Division, Inc. and Mississippi Homebuyer Education Center Initiative. We were unable to
secure an interview with the first organization and the second organization first received HUD funding as
an intermediary in October 2007, after our interviews were conducted.
Appendix A. Interviews with Intermediaries and State Housing Finance Agencies 163