| A coalition of real estate trade associations and nonprofit housing counseling providers released its findings on steps that can be taken to increase the utilization of nationwide homeownership education and housing counseling services.
The Homeownership Collaborative tested ideas in four markets over a nine-month span in Brockton, Massachusetts; Cleveland, Ohio; San Antonio, Texas and Richmond, California. “Creating Channels of Opportunity in Diverse & Emerging Homebuying Markets” reports on the combined efforts of the organizations to host partnerships in local housing markets aimed at increasing homeownership opportunities by working with HUD-approved housing counseling agencies, and the lessons learned to date.
“MBA believes in housing counseling as an important service that can make someone’s homeownership dreams come true,” Steve O’Connor, senior vice president of public policy and industry relations at the Mortgage Bankers Association, said in a statement. “The mission of our partners in the housing counseling community and the real estate industry as a whole is completely aligned.”
Key findings of the report include:
- Real estate agent awareness and involvement is critical. Housing counselors need to inform the real estate industry about the range of housing counseling services, down payment assistance and homebuyer benefits from their work.
- Greater grassroots advocacy is necessary and should be directed at affordable housing options at the state and local levels. Combined advocacy by real estate agents, lenders, and housing groups can be highly effective in lobbying local government and state legislatures for affordable housing.
- Social media should be harnessed to raise awareness. The use of social media by housing counseling agencies is simply underutilized and an improved, multi-faceted strategy should be developed
- Additional engagement with Housing Finance Agencies is needed. There are unique opportunities for housing counseling agencies and other stakeholders to collaborate with state and local housing finance agencies (HFAs) on efforts to reach first-time homebuyers. Given the special focus of HFAs, which is to assist first-time and low- to moderate-income buyers, housing counseling can work as both an awareness/marketing component as well as a risk mitigation tool.
“It is time for housing counseling to stop being the best kept housing secret,” Bruce Dorpalen, executive director of National Housing Resource Center, said in a statement. “Homebuyers, real estate agents and lenders all benefit when housing counselors are working with the buyers to help them succeed. Buyers can receive counseling help with downpayment assistance, improved credit, homebuyer education, mortgage paperwork documentation, and the assurance of working with an independent expert to help with a process that is, let’s face it, complicated and intimidating. These four meetings showed how lenders and Realtors can work together with HUD-approved housing counselors to make homeownership more possible for more people.”
The Homeownership Collaborative, a national collaboration of lenders, investors, real estate agents and housing counseling agencies, formed in July 2016 to raise awareness of the opportunities and benefits of working with housing counseling agencies. The collaboration includes the Mortgage Bankers Association, the National Housing Resource Center, the National Association of Realtors, the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals, the Asian Real Estate Association of America, HomeFree USA, National Council of La Raza, NID-HCA, Rural Community Assistance Corporation, Center for NYC Neighborhoods, Chhaya Community Development Corporation, HomeSmartNY, Housing Options & Planning Enterprises, Beyond Housing and Neighborhood Housing Services of Greater Cleveland.
