Housing Action Illinois is pleased to announce the release of the latest edition of our Guide to HUD-Approved CMSs (version 3.0), which profiles HUD-approved Client Management Systems (CMSs) for housing counseling agencies. This digital resource is available for free online and aims to help users assess their options through an at-a-glance comparison chart and detailed individual system profiles.
CMSs are crucial tools for housing counseling agencies to track clients and outcomes in their work helping families and individuals to find and keep good homes, repair credit, and budget for the future. Choosing an appropriate CMS can be intimidating, especially since many agencies don’t have an IT department to evaluate or maintain a system.
Our last version of the guide was published in 2019, and in the rapidly evolving landscape of CMS solutions, key changes have occurred in the market since then. These include the launch of Agency Reporting Module (ARM) 6.0, a national collaborative effort to develop a Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization (MISMO) compliant Housing Counseling Data Set (HCDS), and the launch of new CMSs. Our CMS Guide 3.0 is designed to be compatible across desktop and mobile devices and more easily updated to provide the most current information to agencies exploring CMS products.
While creating version 3.0 of our CMS Guide, Housing Action Illinois reached out to every publicly available CMS approved by HUD through a survey, then conducted interviews and product demonstrations with each provider who responded. No single CMS is being endorsed.
For questions, contact cms@housingactionil.org.
Thank you to Freddie Mac for making this guide possible.