• HUD's Housing Counseling Program Logic Model (FAQs) to assist you in understanding and filling out the new logic model form required by HUD's FY 2007 SuperNOFA.

• HUD's full Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) can be found here.
•  Here's a handy checklist of materials you'll need for your application
•  Here are sample letters of support for your application.

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Important! HUD now requires that all applications be submitted electronically at www.grants.gov. Online registration takes several weeks to complete, so start now!

General Information For Local Housing Counseling Agencies (LCHA)

Purpose

The purpose of HUD's Housing Counseling Program is to support the delivery of a wide variety of housing counseling services to homebuyers, homeowners, low-to-moderate income renters, and the homeless. The impact of these services shall be expanded homeownership opportunities, improved access to affordable housing and the preservation of homeownership.

Grant Application Categories

1. Local housing counseling agencies,
2. National and regional intermediaries, and
3. State Housing Finance Agencies.

The information provided here pertains only to (1) local housing counseling agencies (LCHAs).

Available Funds

$41.5 million in FY 2007

Comprehensive housing counseling for LCHAs is funded at $14,748,800.

The minimum application request is $20,000. The maximum amount awarded to a successful LCHA applicant will be $150,000 in FY 2007. HUD anticipates that the average total award for LCHAs will be about $36,000.

There is no match required. However, applicants that submit evidence of leveraging dollars under Rating Factor 4 will receive points according to the scale provided in the NOFA.

Submission Information

Applications for HUD's Housing Counseling program must be received and validated by Grants.gov no later than 11:59:59 pm eastern time on June 14 2007. (This new deadline was announced in the Federal Register on May 11.) Applicants are advised to submit their applications at least 48 to 72 hours in advance of the deadline as validation can take up to 72 hours.

Applicant Information

The information provided here pertains only to local housing counseling agencies (LCHA). An LCHA received HUD approval from one of HUD's four Home Ownership Centers (HOCs). HUD approval as an LCHA must be current.1

A HUD-approved LCHA may receive a HUD Housing Counseling grant from just one of the grant application categories (listed above). HUD-approved LCHAs may not receive an award as an LCHA and also receive a sub-grant from intermediary or State Housing Finance Agency.2

1. Affiliates of HUD-approved Housing Counseling intermediaries are not HUD-approved LCHAs by virtue of their affiliation with the intermediary.
2. Exceptions to this rule apply to LCHA that provide Home Equity Conversion Mortgage counseling (HECM) counseling and/or will receive reimbursement for default counseling from a HUD-approved intermediary that is dedicated exclusively to foreclosure prevention.  Please see the March 13, 2007 Federal Register, page 11527.

Grant Period

October 1, 2007 - September 20, 2008

Eligible Activities

Permissible activities include:

• Individual counseling or group education on the following topics:
  • Pre-purchase counseling,
  • Mortgage delinquency (default) counseling,
  • Post-purchase counseling (for non-default situations),
  • Rental housing,
  • Shelter or services for the homeless
• Home Equity Conversion Mortgages (HECM) counseling
• Marketing and outreach
• Training
• Computer equipment/systems

Provision of Services

All HUD-approved LCHAs may be placed on HUD's list of approved counseling agencies and must accept subsequent referrals. Grant recipients are prohibited from discriminating on behalf of or against any segment of the population in the provision of services or outreach.

Rating Factors

Five rating factors will be used to evaluate and rate applications. They are:

• Capacity of the Applicant and Relevant Organization Experience
  • Team members, composition, knowledge, and experience
  • Organization structure and management capacity
  • Experience with either (1) performance based funding requirements or (2) the FY 2005 Housing Counseling gran
  • Past Housing Counseling grant results, if applicable
• Need and Extent of the Problem
  • Needs data that demonstrates the importance of housing counseling services in the target area
  • Policy priorities
• Soundness of Approach
  • Historical performance
  • Projected performance
• Leveraging Resources
• Achieving Results and Program Evaluation

HUD will award two bonus points to all applicants that include documentation stating that the proposed activities will be located in and serve federally designated renewal communities.

Criteria Resulting in Automatic Rejection

Applications from LCHA's will be rejected if they:

• Request less than $20,0000,
• Are not a HUD-approved LCHA by the publication date of the NOFA,
• Do no meet the requirements outlined in the General Section of the SuperNOFA,
• Request supplemental HECM funding but not meet the additional related requirements (see page 11527 of the SuperNOFA).

Accessing the NOFA

http://www.hud.gov/offices/adm/grants/nofa07/grphcp.cfm

Housing Counseling Scoring Analysis

As the following table demonstrates, there are no changes to the scoring criteria between the 2006 and 2007 NOFAs.

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Data last updated May 11, 2007