View Rule

HUD's Housing Counseling Program provides, through HUD-approved counseling agencies and state housing finance agencies, including their affiliates and branches, counseling to individuals seeking information about financing, maintaining, renting, or owning a home. The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act amended the housing counseling statute to improve the effectiveness of the program by, among other things, requiring that entities and individual counselors be certified by HUD as competent to provide such services. In 2016, HUD implemented these requirements for the majority of HUD programs but agreed to conduct consultation with tribes before implementing the new housing counseling requirement. After consulting with Tribes, HUD proposes a new housing counseling certification requirements for Tribes, Tribally Designated Housing Entities (TDHE), and Native community partners conducting housing counseling required or provided in connection with the Indian Housing Block Grant (IHBG) and the Indian Community Development Block Grant (ICDBG) programs. The proposed rule provides an alternative regulatory standard for compliance with the Dodd-Frank Act’s counselor certification requirement that recognize tribal sovereignty and self-determination and the unique land status and programming in Indian Country.