HDF Awarded Bank of America Grant to Support Counseling Programs
STAMFORD, CT – This October Bank of America awarded HDF with a grant that will support our Affordable Housing Counseling Program. This program includes counseling for both our First-Time Homebuyer and Foreclosure Intervention programs, which offer free guidance to low- and moderate- income households.
HDF’s First Time Homebuyer Program is the heart of our efforts to promote homeownership and strengthen the communities in our service area. It encompasses an array of services centered on counseling and lending products for first-time homebuyers.
Meanwhile, HDF’s Foreclosure Intervention Program provides individual and group counseling, financial planning assistance, guidance on the foreclosure process, referrals to job training, legal assistance, and other programs that help clients understand their choices, file for modifications or consider other options. By helping families avoid foreclosure, FIC minimizes disruptions to local communities, prevents further declines in property values, and limits municipal expenditures for vacant and abandoned properties.
Both programs address a lack of affordable housing that serves as a challenge to long-term economic growth and affect the ability of employers to attract and retain workers. Census data shows that 51% of CT renters pay more than 30% of their income on housing, and 26% are severely housing cost burdened, spending over 50% of their income on housing each month. With rents so high, it can be difficult for households to save towards homeownership, for their children’s’ college education or for retirement. Among the households struggling with these high housing costs are many of our area’s teachers, police officers, municipal employees, nurses, and firefighters. Many of these individuals cannot afford to live where they work, and many in our area have to commute over an hour each way to their jobs.
HDF thanks Bank of America for enabling us to continue performing vital work in CT communities.