HUD Awards $10M to Housing Counseling Agencies

""HUD"":http://portal.hud.gov/portal/page/portal/HUD announced Friday that it will distribute more than $10 million to housing counseling agencies throughout the country.

HUD will distribute $3 million among 139 local counseling agencies and more than $7 million among 23 housing counseling intermediary agencies. The funds are unused funding from 2010.

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The grants will be distributed to the 100 metropolitan areas with the highest incidence of foreclosures and will assist agencies addressing foreclosure prevention by guiding homeowners through mortgage modification applications and other loss mitigation options.

In addition to foreclosure prevention, the funds are being directed to agencies addressing mortgage modification scams.

""The funding announced today is specifically earmarked to provide counseling assistance relating to mortgage modification, avoiding potential mortgage scams, and assisting victims of scams,"" said HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan.

""It is crucial that we support these agencies in helping struggling families do whatever is possible to avoid foreclosure without being victimized by so called mortgage ""rescue"" companies.""

HUD selected the grant recipients through a competitive application process. The agencies receiving the grants are HUD-approved and are subject to performance reviews.