Release No. 081314-21
Press Contact Only:
Connie Helmlinger, NCHFA, 919-877-5607 cshelmlinger@nchfa.com
Brian Rapp, NCHFA, 919-877-5655 bprapp@nchfa.com
The North Carolina Housing Finance Agency has been awarded a $747,000 competitive grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) that will support housing counseling services in 75 counties across the state.
The funds will be managed by the Agency and distributed to 25 local housing counseling organizations to strengthen services that help families find suitable housing or keep the homes they have.
Grant recipients will use funding to address the full range of families’ housing counseling needs. This includes helping home buyers and homeowners evaluate their readiness for a home purchase, understand their financing and down payment options and navigate what can be an extremely difficult and confusing process.
Grantees also help households find affordable rental housing, offer financial literacy training to individuals and families struggling to repair credit problems that restrict their housing options, help senior citizens understand reverse mortgages and help homeowners avoid foreclosure. Twenty of the 25 counseling agencies also partner with the NC Housing Finance Agency to offer the NC Foreclosure Prevention Fund, which makes mortgage payments for qualified homeowners – including veterans – while they look for jobs or complete education or job training. Assistance is provided through a zero-interest, deferred loan of up to $36,000 for up to 36 months to help pay mortgage and related costs. The Fund is financed by the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
The $747,000 awarded the Agency is part of more than $38 million in competitive housing counseling grants awarded nationwide by HUD for fiscal year 2014. These grants, and the additional funding they help to leverage, will assist more than 1.5 million households nationwide to find housing, make more informed housing choices, or keep their current homes. A portion of the total award also helps cover the administrative costs of each agency.
Funding for each counseling agency participating in the NC Housing Finance Agency Grant is based on a variety of factors including number of people assisted in 2013 and number of full-time counselors employed.
Counseling agencies receiving funds under the award are:
AMEX Housing Community Development Corp., Wilmington; Blue Springs-Hoke County Community Development Corp., Raeford; Brunswick Housing Opportunities, Bolivia; Cape Fear Regional Community Development Corp., Wilmington; Community Housing Development Corp. of Mooresville-South Iredell, Mooresville; Choanoke Area Development Assoc. of NC, Rich Square; Cleveland County Community Development Corp., Shelby; Consumer Credit Counseling Services of Forsyth County (dba Financial Pathways of the Piedmont), Winston-Salem; Greensboro Housing Coalition, Greensboro; Greenville Housing Development Corp., Greenville; Guilford County Homeownership Center, Greensboro; Johnston-Lee-Harnett Community Action, Smithfield; Lexington Housing Community Development Corp., Lexington; Mid-East Commission (Area Agency on Aging), Washington; Monroe-Union County Community Development Corp., Monroe; Northwestern Regional Housing Authority, Boone; Olive Hill Community Economic Development Corp., Valdese; Pisgah Legal Services, Asheville; Prosperity Unlimited, Kannapolis; Reinvestment Partners, Durham; River City Community Development Corp., Elizabeth City; Robeson County Community Development Corp., Pembroke; Rocky Mount-Edgecombe Community Development Corp., Rocky Mount; White Oak Foundation, Apex ; Wilson Community Improvement, Wilson.
Attached, please find a list of the 25 North Carolina agencies receiving sub-grants and the amount awarded each, along with contact information should you wish to follow up with localized coverage.
The NC Housing Finance Agency, a self-supporting public agency, has financed more than 221,000 affordable homes and apartments statewide since its creation in 1973.
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