Housing counseling organizations provide information on a wide range of housing issues to a variety of populations. Prospective homebuyers, current homeowners, renters, and the homeless are all examples of populations that may seek housing counseling. In general, the federal government does not provide housing counseling services directly. Rather, the federal government provides some financial support for private housing counseling agencies, primarily through the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). HUD supports housing counseling activities in two main ways. First, it certifies housing counseling agencies that meet certain criteria and lists the contact information for these HUD-approved agencies on the HUD website. Second, since the late 1970s Congress has usually appropriated funding for housing counseling to HUD during the annual appropriations process, and HUD has used this funding to provide competitive grants to housing counseling agencies. Only agencies that are certified by HUD are eligible to apply for these grants. However, not all agencies that are certified by HUD are guaranteed to receive a grant. Furthermore, HUD's housing counseling grants do not cover housing counseling agencies' full costs; even agencies that receive grants through HUD generally get most of their funding from other sources. The amount of funding appropriated for HUD's housing counseling program fluctuates from year to year. Over the last decade, appropriations for housing counseling generally increased, sometimes sharply. However, Congress opted not to provide any funding for HUD's housing counseling program in FY2011. It again provided funding for the program in FY2012. Separate from HUD's housing counseling program, Congress has appropriated additional housing counseling funding specifically for foreclosure mitigation counseling since FY2008. Congress has appropriated this funding to NeighborWorks America, a federally chartered nonprofit agency with a nationwide network of affiliated organizations. NeighborWorks administers this funding through the National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling Program. Housing counseling can also be considered part of the broader category of financial education. In addition to HUD's housing counseling program and NeighborWorks, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of the Treasury, and the Department of Defense all provide some support for housing counseling, or for broader financial counseling programs that may include housing counseling, that is aimed at specific groups. While housing counseling is generally a voluntary activity, the federal government and some state, local, and private entities do require housing counseling as a condition for participating in certain programs. These requirements are another way in which the federal government supports housing counseling, because such requirements both increase the demand for housing counseling and make the provision of counseling a more mainstream activity. However, the federal government does not always provide additional funds to housing counseling agencies to go along with requirements for counseling, so such conditions could have the effect of requiring agencies to counsel more people while spending less time and money on each individual. This report provides a broad overview of what housing counseling is, with a specific focus on how the federal government supports housing counseling activities. It describes how housing counseling organizations become eligible for federal housing counseling funds, particularly through HUD, and how those funds are distributed. It also analyzes which counseling organizations are receiving federal funds and how those funds are used. This section broadly describes housing counseling. It discusses what housing counseling is and how it is carried out, the populations that tend to receive housing counseling, and the types of organizations that provide it. This section is meant to provide a general overview of the housing counseling industry and is not intended to be exhaustive. Housing counseling is related to the broader concept of financial literacy counseling, which is intended to help individuals and families set budgets, manage their finances, and understand complex financial concepts in order to promote sound decisions on financial matters. Housing counseling can be provided as part of, or in tandem with, financial counseling, and there is some overlap between the two types of counseling (e.g., learning to budget in order to save for a downpayment on a home is a concept that could be considered part of either financial literacy or housing counseling). Financial literacy counseling can include information on housing, and particularly homeownership. However, housing counseling generally refers to a more specific type of counseling that focuses on housing-related decisions, and information on financial concepts or financial literacy is generally provided in the context of informing these housing-related decisions. Some organizations might provide both housing counseling and financial literacy counseling more broadly, while others might focus on one or the other. Housing counseling is itself a broad term that can refer to a wide variety of activities. It can include counseling for a range of populations with distinct housing goals, such as people looking to buy a home, current homeowners, renters, the homeless, senior citizens seeking reverse mortgages, or other groups. Much housing counseling focuses on homebuyers either before or after they buy a home, and this type of counseling often targets first-time homebuyers. Traditionally, housing counseling for current or prospective homeowners has been divided into the broad categories of pre-purchase and post-purchase counseling. Even within these specific categories, housing counseling can refer to a wide range of specific topics. For example, pre-purchase counseling can refer to financial literacy or money management counseling; the responsibilities of homeownership; information on specific housing programs; or assistance in reviewing individual loan documents, among other issues. Post-purchase counseling can include counseling on maintenance and repairs; budgeting; or resolving mortgage delinquency, among other issues. Housing counseling curricula are not standardized across the industry. The specific issues covered by housing counseling will depend on the person receiving counseling and the organization providing the counseling. Although much housing counseling focuses on either current or prospective homeowners, it is not limited to these groups. Housing counseling for renters can help tenants learn about HUD housing programs, navigate housing issues, or learn about fair housing laws. Mobility counseling can assist Section 8 voucher holders in their search for suitable housing, and in particular, housing in communities with low concentrations of poverty. Housing counseling for the homeless can help people search for housing or access needed services. Housing counseling for senior citizens seeking reverse mortgages can help seniors understand the terms of reverse mortgages and provide information on possible alternatives to reverse mortgages. In addition to the variety of topics that housing counseling can cover, there is a wide range of ways in which housing counseling can be provided. Some ways in which the provision of counseling can vary include the following: Setting: Counseling can take place individually or in group sessions. In general, group sessions that cover broad topics are referred to as "education," while individual sessions that are more tailored to an individual's circumstances are referred to as "counseling." Method: Counseling can happen in person or over the telephone, or it can consist of self-study on a computer or through the completion of a workbook. Length of time: Counseling can vary widely in its intensity, and can include anywhere from one session to several sessions spread out over a number of weeks or months. While housing counseling can take many forms, HUD generally holds that individual, face-to-face counseling is the preferable form of counseling in most situations. HUD-approved agencies are expected to provide counseling in this manner if their clients prefer it. However, HUD recognizes that in some situations face-to-face counseling may not be the most feasible option, and therefore it allows other forms of counseling as well. Situations in which face-to-face counseling may not be feasible include counseling people living in geographic areas not served by a HUD-approved agency, counseling seniors or persons with disabilities who may prefer to receive counseling over the phone, and counseling people facing foreclosure who may not have time to travel to in-person counseling sessions. HUD does allow group education classes, but topics covered in these classes must be offered in individual counseling sessions as well. Supporters of housing counseling programs believe that counseling can help households achieve a range of positive housing outcomes. These outcomes can range from helping households make more sound decisions regarding their choices of homes and mortgage products, helping some households choose to delay the decision to purchase a home until their circumstances are more favorable for homeownership, helping households to avoid default or foreclosure, and helping renters to find suitable housing units. Housing counseling for homebuyers (both pre-purchase and post-purchase) is thought by many to provide certain benefits to both the homebuyer and the mortgage lender. Supporters of housing counseling believe that pre-purchase counseling can better prepare homebuyers to understand their mortgage terms and the responsibility of owning a home, and to better deal with unexpected circumstances that could lead to mortgage default. These supporters also argue that housing counseling helps lenders, both by reducing mortgage default rates and by screening out borrowers who are not ready for homeownership before they seek a mortgage. Post-purchase counseling is thought by many to help reduce mortgage delinquencies by helping households manage circumstances that could lead to default or, in the case of foreclosure mitigation counseling, helping homeowners work with their lenders to cure a mortgage delinquency. While there are many potential benefits of housing counseling, critics point out that the research on housing counseling outcomes is limited, and that it is not clear that housing counseling is effective in realizing these potential benefits. (See " Brief Overview of the Literature on Housing Counseling Effectiveness " for a fuller discussion of the research on housing counseling.) There is little consensus on which types of housing counseling may lead to the best outcomes, or even what a successful outcome is. Furthermore, pre-purchase counseling often happens after, not before, a borrower has already decided on a specific home and mortgage. This could limit the potential benefits that pre-purchase counseling may offer in the form of helping borrowers navigate the homebuying process or choose an appropriate mortgage, or in screening out borrowers who are unprepared for homeownership. As described in the previous sections, a variety of populations may seek housing counseling. In general, housing counseling is a voluntary activity.