Housing and
Social Services

Resolving or Preventing Mortgage Delinquency Workshop

The two-hour-long group education consists of orienting homeowners to HAUL program process and to the default and foreclosure process in their county and with the lender/ servicer. A list of legal agencies or referrals are provided as requested for additional support services. Homeowners are also provided access to optional one-on-one counseling.

Resolving or Preventing Mortgage Delinquency or Default Service

This consists of one-on-one consultations provided to families in times of financial difficulty to prevent mortgage default and assist families facing foreclosure with alternative options. During the counseling session, regarding options available include (refinancing, default, foreclosure prevention, sale, and transition from the home). Additional counseling options include loss mitigation, budgeting and credit, restructuring debt, and establish reinstatement plans. It may also involve helping clients affected by predatory lending, foreclosure prevention strategies, explaining the foreclosure process, providing referrals to other sources.

Telephone Housing Counseling is provided as an alternative to cases where the agency and the client mutually agree on the need for alternative settings due to disasters and rural areas. Housing Phone Assistance is an alternative to both emergency and non-emergencies.

Financial Education workshops educate families with basic money management skills, including goal setting, understanding your money, developing and maintaining a budget, savings, credit/debit, and credit management. The curriculum utilized is Building Wealth, A Beginner’s Guide to Securing Your Financial Future by that Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.

Fair Housing Workshops/Fair Housing Initiative Program

This program will assist consumers in The City of Houston, Texas, and the following counties: Harris, Brazoria, Chambers, Fort Bend, Galveston, Liberty, Waller, Austin, and Montgomery.

The program addresses the Fair Housing Organizations Initiative Mortgage Rescue Component, conducting fair housing and lending workshops and community meetings. HAUL will advocate and provide direct assistance to victims of fair housing and fair lending laws resulting from fraudulent or predatory mortgage rescue schemes. Houston Area Urban League will conduct group and individual housing counseling.

The Houston Area Urban League provides rental counseling in the following areas:

• Budgeting and money management
• Review of credit report
• Information on the application process
• Available subsidies
• The difference between leasing and rental agreements

Additional information is provided on typical expenses as a renter, how to properly communicate with your landlord, recovery of your security deposit, necessary maintenance and repairs, and the importance of understanding your rights and responsibilities as a renter.

The Financial Education and Credit Enhancement Pre-Purchase Program allows homeowners or former homeowners to re-enter the mortgage market more knowledgeable and mortgage ready. This housing counseling service enables HAUL to reach a more significant number of homeowners about to lose their homes and will assist individuals and families in the process of buying a home by improving their creditworthiness by increasing their credit scores. The Financial Education program workshops are scheduled twice per month at no charge to the client.

HAUL’s program will provide Credit Analysis, which includes a comprehensive review of a client’s credit file, Credit Education which provides for financial education covering removals of barriers to homeownership, budgeting, establishing and maintaining credit, and shopping for a loan to purchase a home. Credit Enhancement provides additional credit repair counseling to bring potential borrowers up to standard based on area lender partner programs. Clients will receive 2 hours of orientation, 4 hours of Financial Education, and 8 hours of homebuyer education plus an optional 1 hour of one-on-one counseling and 1 hour of quarterly assessment counseling.

Homeless Assistance Counseling (Homeless Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing)

The Houston Area Urban League provides case management to persons who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless by preventing households from losing their home or returning to stable housing as quickly as possible. This loss may be due to nonpayment of rent or a mortgage due to the current economic or life crisis. Homeless Assistance includes but is not limited to information regarding emergency shelters, other emergency services, transitional housing, supportive services, and limited financial assistance for related needs (rental, mortgage, utility, and deposits).

Post-Purchase Homeownership GroupEducation and Individual Counseling

Recent homebuyers are inundated with opportunities that encourage many additional new purchases, including sales representatives' suggestions to make immediate improvements, security, appliances, and new car. When first-time homebuyers are approved, we review budgets and make necessary adjustments to ensure the monthly bills are not exceeded. However, within a twelve (12) month period, families can become vulnerable to default and foreclosure due to their lack of understanding of responsibilities associated with homeownership.

HAUL Veteran Support Services assist veterans (HUD Vash referral from VA Case Manager), surviving spouse of a veteran and dependent of a veteran with limited financial assistance for rent or mortgage, financial management, credit counseling and referrals as needed.

This program is supported by a grant from the Texas Veterans Commission Fund for Veterans’ Assistance. The Fund for Veterans’ Assistance provides grants to organizations serving veterans and their families. For more information, visit www.TVC.Texas.gov.