The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) today announced that $79 million is available for a broad range of housing counseling programs to help families find and preserve housing. The available funding is an increase of $21 million, or 27 percent, over last year. These grants will be awarded competitively to hundreds of HUD-approved counseling agencies and State Housing Finance Agencies that offer a variety of services including how to avoid foreclosure, how to purchase or rent a home, how to improve credit scores, and how to qualify for a reverse mortgage. The primary benefits of the program are to expand homeownership opportunities, improve access to affordable housing and preserve homeownership.
To compete for funding at the local, regional, multi-state or national levels, applications submitted through http://www.grants.gov must be received and validated by grants.gov no later than 11:59:59 pm eastern time on August 27, 2010. See Section IV of the NOFA General Section, regarding application procedures, timely filing requirements, and grace period policy.
HUD will award grants to approximately 550 applicants. Applications and forms needed to apply for funding under this NOFA are available at http://www.grants.gov/applicants/apply_for_grants.jsp. To apply directly, go to https://apply07.grants.gov/apply/forms_apps_idx.html and enter 14.169 in the CFDA field. To see it on Grants.gov/FIND, go to http://www.grants.gov/search/basic.do and enter 14.169 in the CFDA field.
If you have any questions regarding specific program related requirements, please contact your local HUD office and/or current HUD representative. Specific grant related questions regarding the 2010 General Section should be directed to the Office of Grants Management and Oversight at 202-708-0667 (this is not a toll-free number) OR the Grants.gov Contact Center at 800-518-GRANTS (4726…this is a toll-free number). Persons with hearing or speech impairments may access these numbers via TTY by calling the Federal Information Relay Service at 800-877-8339. The NOFA Information Center is open between the hours of 10:00 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. eastern time, Monday through Friday, except federal holidays.