Longmont residents looking to get into an affordable home will now get counseling and training on how to purchase the home and keep from going into foreclosure.
The city council earlier this week approved giving $50,000 to the Boulder County Housing Counseling Program. The funding comes solely from Community Development Block Grants and not from the city’s general fund, a staff report states. The funds will also leverage over $370,000 in additional private or public sector funding, according to a city staff report.
The county’s housing counseling program provides homeownership training classes, pre-and post-purchase housing counseling including default and foreclosure prevention counseling in Longmont, the staff report states.
The city requires that all affordable home purchasers attend the Homeownership Training class and a one-on-one budget counseling session to ensure they can afford the home they want to purchase.
The funds also are used to provide post-purchase counseling for Longmont homeowners in default or foreclosure on their home or who are wanting to access the city’s Housing Rehab Program, the staff report states.
“Housing counseling helps people to revisit their budget and work with their lender to identify possible solutions to rectify their situation and/or know if they can take on the additional debt of the Rehab loan,” the staff report states.
Housing counselors also review requests to the city to subordinate Longmont’s Down Payment Assistance and Housing Rehabilitation liens to make sure homeowners are in good financial standing and their new mortgage loans have standard rates and terms, the staff report states.
