Capacity Building
Doing more together.
By providing training, consulting, and resources, we help housing organizations—especially housing counseling agencies—better serve our communities in Illinois and throughout the nation.
We also advocate for the resources these nonprofits need to most effectively fulfill their missions.
Support & Resources for Housing Counseling Agencies
One of our priorities is supporting housing counselors, who help individuals and families find and keep good, affordable homes. Our experts facilitate regular workshops for counselors and offer one-on-one support and direct technical assistance to organizations. We want to make sure that agencies can keep up with changing trends, new technology, and complicated regulations. By helping housing counselors build their skills and capacity, we position them to better serve their communities.
Housing Action Training Center
We bring a robust lineup of trainings for nonprofit housing professionals, with a specific focus on educating housing counselors. In addition to trainings for established housing counselors, we prepare individuals interested in becoming housing counselors.
Housing Action Counseling Network
As a HUD-Approved Intermediary, we support a network of housing counseling agencies in the Midwest and beyond. We help these organizations by providing one-on-one guidance and securing resources.
Guide to Choosing a HUD-Approved CMS
Housing counseling agencies rely on Client Management Systems (CMSs) to track clients and outcomes. Choosing an appropriate CMS can be intimidating, especially since many agencies don’t have an IT department to evaluate or maintain a system. In 2023, Housing Action published a new edition of our Guide to HUD-Approved CMSs (version 3.0) 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 individual system profiles. View the guide »
Helping Clients Find Housing Counselors
We want to help housing counselors and potential counseling clients find each other more easily. That’s why we are launching My Path To Home, a platform currently in beta testing, which matches individuals who enter their information with local housing counseling agencies that offer the kind of assistance they need. This is different from other tools for finding a housing counselor because the potential client’s information goes to a participating agency that can then proactively reach out.
Want to learn more and join as a participating housing counseling agency? Contact us at info@mypathtohome.org.
Latest Capacity Building Updates
March 2017: Federal and State Housing Advocacy Update
Federal Level Advocacy Along with advocates from across the country who work to create affordable housing and end homelessness, we are dismayed by President Trump’s budget “blueprint" for next year. Why? The proposal cuts the HUD budget by $6.2 billion (13%). The...
Housing Counseling Program Final Rule Summary
On December 14, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) issued a Final Rule for the Housing Counseling program. The most significant of these changes is the requirement that all individuals that provide housing counseling in connection with a HUD...
Housing Action Illinois Awarded $698,000 in HUD Housing Counseling Funds: 26 Agencies to Receive Sub-Grants
Housing Action Illinois has been awarded $698,000 by HUD to channel resources to local organizations to help families and individuals with their housing needs and to prevent foreclosures. Housing Action will distribute the funds to the 26 housing counseling agencies...