HUD has awarded $820,030 to Housing Action Illinois to distribute resources to local organizations whose housing programs and services prevent foreclosures and help families rent or buy safe, affordable homes. This year’s network of 26 housing counseling agencies, listed below, serve low- and moderate-income communities in Illinois, Indiana, and Missouri.
Each HUD-approved housing counseling agency will receive between $21,000 and $42,000. The organizations work with clients to provide guidance on budgeting, renting, purchasing a home; accessing mortgage solutions and managing mortgage delinquency; avoiding discriminatory or predatory lending practices; preventing foreclosure and homelessness; and more.
“Being an Intermediary goes beyond just managing and allocating pass-through funds from HUD,” Housing Action’s Director of Training and Technical Assistance, David Young explains. “We help our network of agencies meet rigorous program standards and build their capacity to meet the evolving needs of their communities.”
Housing Action Illinois became a HUD-Approved Intermediary in 2014 to streamline their ability to support and offer resources for housing counseling agencies. For three consecutive years, the Intermediary network has received an increase in funding from HUD; the annual award enables Housing Action to provide vital administrative support for the affiliated agencies in the areas of managing resources, reporting, training, and identifying funding opportunities.
“Because of these funds, HOPE is able to impact the lives of over 400 households on an annual basis,” says Joshua Case, Executive Director of HOPE of Evansville. “The HUD housing counseling grant funds that we obtain through our intermediary partnership with Housing Action Illinois ensure we are able to deliver comprehensive counseling services for low-to-moderate income households throughout our community, including financial capability training, down payment assistance, homebuyer education, and one-on-one housing counseling.”
Steeve Kidd, Director of Operations and Community Empowerment and Education at Far South CDC (Formerly Genesis Housing Development Corporation), says that being an affiliate “has increased our funding levels from HUD and our network with statewide community service organizations. This helps us access services and resources we can use to help low- and moderate-income families obtain and maintain affordable housing, with a focus on increasing their financial capacity.”
Last year, from October 2016 to June 2017, Housing Action’s affiliate network served 7,684 households.
HUD Housing Counseling Intermediary Affiliates 2017 – 2018
Access Living – Chicago, IL
Bethel New Life – Chicago, IL
Brightpoint – Ft. Wayne, IN
CDBG Operations Corp. – E. St. Louis, IL
CEDA – Chicago, IL
CEFS – Effingham, IL
Center for Changing Lives – Chicago, IL
Community Service Council of N. Will County – Bolingbrook, IL
HOME DuPage (fka DuPage Homeownership Center) – Wheaton, IL
Embarras River Basin Agency – Greenup, IL
Ford Heights Community Service Organization – Ford Heights, IL
Genesis HDC – Chicago, IL
Habitat for Humanity of Champaign County – Champaign, IL
HOPE of Evansville – Evansville, IN
Housing Opportunities – Valparaiso, IN
Housing Opportunity Development Corp. – Techny, IL
Justine Petersen, Inc. – St. Louis, MO
Kingdom Community – Chicago, IL
Menard County Housing Authority – Petersburg, IL
METEC – Peoria, IL
Northside CDC – Chicago, IL
Oak Park Regional Housing Center – Oak Park, IL
Respond Now – Chicago Heights, IL
Restoration America – Crystal Lake, IL
South Suburban Housing Center – Homewood, IL
Western Egyptian Economic Opportunity Corp. – Steeleville, IL