FY18 NOFA Housing Counseling Training Grant

The purpose of this assistance is to continue investing in the creation and maintenance of a professional and effective housing counseling industry that is able to meaningfully assist consumers by providing them with the information they need to make informed housing choices, and maximizes the impact of Federal funding appropriated for HUD’s Housing Counseling Program. HUD recognizes six (6) Core Topics in which housing counselors need to be competent. These are: 1. Financial Management; 2. Property Maintenance; 3. Homeownership and Tenancy; 4. Fair Housing and other Civil Rights Laws...

State governments County governments City or township governments Non-profits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education Applicants must be a public or private non-profit organization and must submit evidence of “tax exempt” status under section 501(a) pursuant to section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code (26 USC 501(a) and (c)(3)). Applicants may also be SHFAs and other units of local, county or state government. Applicants must have at least two years of experience providing housing counseling training services nationwide to housing counselors employed by housing counseling agencies participating in HUD’s Housing Counseling Program. Applicants are not required to be HUD Approved Housing Counseling Agencies. Applicants may utilize in-house staff, sub-grant recipients, Training Partners, qualified third-party trainers, and consultants, with requisite experience and capacity. HUD strongly encourages the partnering by Grantees with SHFAs and other Training Partners. However, one organization must be designated as the primary applicant. This NOFA is structured to encourage agencies to sub-allocate funding to sub-grantees and/or Training Partners. Sub-grantees and Training Partners may include SHFAs; units of local, county or state government; and local or state housing coalitions/networks that are public or private non-profit organizations. sub-grantees and/or Training Partners must have “tax exempt” status under section 501(a) pursuant to section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code [26 USC 501(a) and (c)(3)] or be an established SHFA. The funding methodology of this NOFA will incentivize such Training Partnerships. As required in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) at 2 CFR 25.200 and 24 CFR Part 5 Sub-part K, all applicants for financial assistance must have an active Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number (http://fedgov.dnb.com/webform) and have an active registration in the System for Award Management (SAM) (www.sam.gov) before submitting an application. Getting a DUNS number and completing SAM registration can take up to four weeks; therefore, applicants should start this process or check their status early. See also Section IV.B for necessary form and content information. All Applicants and Sub-grantees must disclose to HUD the status of active HUD Office of Inspector General (OIG) audits or investigations at the time of the NOFA application submission date. At the time of application submission or thereafter, HUD may determine that applicants are not eligible for grant funding based on its review of HUD OIG audits and investigations. Individuals, foreign entities, and sole proprietorship organizations are not eligible to compete for, or receive, awards made under this announcement.

Tom Hardy tom.hardy@hud.gov