Kelly, Gallego, Colleagues Push Back Against HUD Cuts to Housing Counseling for Homeowners and Renters

Push comes during National Affordable Housing Month Today, Arizona Senators Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego alongside 19 of their Senate colleagues called on the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to reverse changes included in a new Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for housing counseling that would drastically narrow the activities eligible for funding under HUD’s housing counseling program. In a letter to HUD Secretary Scott Turner, the senators raised concerns about several policy changes included in the new guidance, including the removal of pre-purchase housing counseling from the list of eligible activities: “Pre-purchase counseling has been a cornerstone of HUD’s counseling program since 1968, created specifically to open the doors of homeownership to Americans who had long been shut out, and it remains just as essential today. For first-time and low- to moderate-income buyers, this guidance is often the difference between a sustainable investment and a financially devastating one. Housing counselors are a community-level guardrail, and eliminating their funding doesn’t make the need disappear—it simply strips counselors of the federal resources to meet it.” The NOFO places restrictions on post-purchase and delinquency counseling. While the NOFO lists these activities as eligible, reimbursement is restricted to government-backed mortgages—leaving homeowners with conventional mortgages facing delinquency or foreclosure without access to federally funded counseling. All of this harm is compounded by the fact that the NOFO was release seven months later than usual, meaning housing counseling programs were left without any federal funds for over half a year already. “The communities we represent depend on HUD-approved housing counseling agencies to serve as trusted guides through one of the most consequential financial decisions of families’ lives. Narrowing eligible counseling services and allowing funding gaps of this magnitude abandons Americans at the two moments they need help the most: when they are trying to buy their first home, and when they are at risk of losing it . We urge HUD to immediately restore full funding eligibility for all pre-purchase, post-purchase, and delinquency counseling for borrowers with conventional and government-sponsored mortgages under this NOFO. The families and agencies counting on this program cannot afford further delays or uncertainty,” the senators conclude. In addition to Kelly and Gallego, the letter was signed by Senators Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Andy Kim (D-NJ), Angus King (I-ME), Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), Jack Reed (D-RI), Jackie Rosen (D-NV), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Mark Warner (D-VA), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Ron Wyden (D-OR). Read the full letter here .