SouthEastern Arizona Governments Organization

Housing Counseling Program

SEAGO's Housing Counseling Program provides an opportunity for low and moderate income households to receive assistance regarding their housing needs. The program provides counseling to renters, homeowners and potential homeowners through the following counseling services:

Pre-purchase Homeownership Counseling

This type of counseling provides information on homeownership process, information on mortgage financing options and the availability of subsidy programs, identifies how to accumulate funds for a down payment and closing costs, and teaches individuals how to budget and manage their money.

Post-purchase Homeownership Counseling

Issues discussed during this component of the Homeownership Counseling program addresses the homeowners ongoing relationship with their financial institution, property maintenance and money management

Mortgage Delinquency Counseling

Individuals or families requiring counseling under this sector will be counseled on how to restructure their debt and how to budget and manage their money. The main focus under this counseling program is to determine how and why the client became delinquent on their mortgage and to develop strategies to bring the client out of delinquency. The final goal of the program is to provide information to the client on how to prevent delinquencies from occurring in the future.

Rental Assistance Counseling

This service provides counseling to renters before, after and during their rental of a housing unit. Rental counseling includes information on unit selection, fair housing laws, how to apply for subsidy programs, budgeting, money management, housing care and maintenance, and the rights and responsibilities of tenants.

Money Management Counseling

This service is typically provided in association with any of the counseling programs mentioned above, but may be offered to a broad range of the population on an as needed basis. Money Management Counseling focuses on reviewing the clients income and expenses to determine how the client spends money. The client is then taught how to develop a budget which they can live with. The SEAGO Housing Counseling program also provides outreach activities to inform individuals about housing opportunities that are available throughout the region. Outreach activities have been developed to reach all sectors of the population including special needs population groups such as the elderly, the developmentally disabled and persons with disabilities. To initiate housing counseling, a client must complete an intake or screening interview conducted by a counselor. This interview enables the counselor to obtain information from the client that enables the agency to identify the client's housing need or housing problem and determine whether or not assistance can be provided. If the counselor determines that a client is willing to undergo counseling, then the client and the counselor develop a counseling plan which is acceptable to both parties. If the interview indicates that the client is unwilling to participate in counseling or the situation does not warrant counseling at this time, then the client will be referred to other community resources which may be of assistance.

Contact person: Julie Packer