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

standards are sufficient. Support for national standards is highest for predatory lending workshops
and foreclosure mitigation counseling, but a substantial majority of agencies report that standards are
needed for the other types of homeownership-related counseling as well. For rental and homeless
counseling, however, only about half of agencies say that national standards are needed.
A substantial majority of agencies reported that HUD should set national standards for housing
counseling and education. Support is also strong for HUD providing quality control for housing
education and counseling services. However, fewer agencies reported that HUD should have a more
rigorous process for certifying housing counseling agencies. In the written comments on the survey,
many agencies expressed support for the current approval criteria, suggesting that raising them may
discourage smaller agencies from participating.
Intermediaries and SHFAs interviewed generally agreed on the need for national standards in the
housing counseling industry. However, they also raised concerns about the development and
implementation of such standards related to:
• How additional training for counselors, if it were required, would be funded and
provided;
• How local and regional diversity in market conditions and counseling practices could be
accommodated;
• How the standards would be enforced and by whom, and who would pay for the
enforcement; and
• What impact national standards might have on access to counseling in areas served by
very small agencies that might be unable to meet the added standards or reporting
requirements.
Intermediaries and SHFAs were also broadly supportive of HUD playing some role in setting and
enforcing national standards for the counseling industry, but disagreed as to the extent of that role.
Most said that HUD should endorse the standards once developed, make sure that they are included in
the HUD housing counseling handbook, and provide training funds for agencies to meet the
standards.
Reaching Clients at the Right Time
A final major challenge facing the housing counseling industry is the need to reach clients at the time
that counseling can be of most assistance. In pre-purchase and mortgage refinance counseling, for
example, the industry has long struggled with how to provide individuals with counseling before they
take out unaffordable or otherwise inappropriate loans. This is not a new issue but it has been
highlighted by the current subprime and foreclosure crisis. In particular, providers of housing
counseling services are frustrated that they are not a more effective counterweight to predatory
lenders and to subprime lenders offering highly risky mortgage products to people with limited
savings and poor credit.
Part of the issue is that counseling takes time and requires the client to come to a certain place, which
in rural or less populous states may be far from home, at certain times. Although few counseling
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Executive Summary