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

2005, the number of approved agencies has grown even more rapidly. Based on HUD administrative
data from March 2008, there were 1,813 approved agencies as of that time—a 50 percent increase
from the number in 2002. This recent growth coincides with the more than doubling of HUD funding
since FY 2002. While many of these agencies may have first begun offering counseling during this
period, it is also likely that agencies that had previously been offering counseling were attracted to
seek HUD approval as a means of accessing the increased funding available—particularly in the years
since 2002. A number of agencies commented as part of the survey conducted for this study that the
annual reporting requirements associated with HUD approval made them question the value of HUD
approval. It may well be that a number of non-profit agencies opted not to seek HUD approval until
the opportunities for funding were generous enough to warrant the effort.
Exhibit 2-4.
Trends in the Number of HUD-Approved Counseling Agencies
2,000
1,800
1,600
1,400
1,200
1,000
800
600
400
200
0
1969
1970
1
971
1972
1973
1974
1975
1976
1977
1978
1979
1980
1
981
1982
***
1992
***
1997
1998
1999
2
001
2002
***
2005
Sources: 1969-1982 from HUD, 1983; 1992-2005 from HUD administrative data cited in RFP for Housing
Counseling Program Evaluation; 2007 from Abt Associates Inc. tabulations of HUD administrative data.
Note: Data for 2005-07 includes main offices of LHCAs and branches of intermediaries while excluding branch
offices of LHCAs. It is not known how branch offices were handled in the agency counts prior to 2005.
000
2
2006
2007
Chapter 2. Overview of the Housing Counseling Industry 15