2023-01345: Certification of Tribal Housing Counselors

Summary

HUD's Housing Counseling Program provides, through HUD- approved counseling agencies and State housing finance agencies, 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 and Urban Development Act of 1968 to improve the effectiveness of the housing counseling program by, among other things, requiring that entities and individual counselors be certified by HUD as competent to provide such counseling services. In 2016, HUD implemented these requirements for most HUD programs but agreed to conduct consultation with Tribes before implementing the new housing counselor certification requirement for Tribes. After consulting with Tribes, HUD proposes a housing counselor certification option for employees of Tribes, Tribally Designated Housing Entities (TDHE), and other Tribal entities 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 recognizes Tribal sovereignty and self- determination, and accounts for the unique status of Tribal land and housing programs in Indian Country.

The agency’s own summary, as published.

What this changes

Amends 3 parts of the Code of Federal Regulations — the standing rules this notice rewrites.

• 24 CFR 214 Housing Counseling Program
• 24 CFR 1000 Native American Housing Activities
• 24 CFR 1003 Community Development Block Grants for Indian Tribes and Alaska Native Villages