The Housing Assistance Program of Essex County, Inc. is a HUD Certified Housing Counseling Agency providing comprehensive housing counseling services to Essex County residents free of charge.
These services include:
pre-purchase counseling/post purchase counseling
pre-rental
post-occupancy problems
home improvement/rehabilitation
energy conservation
information on fair housing
budgetary counseling
mortgage default counseling
reverse mortgage counseling
The housing counseling service is extremely important to the
residents of the county, since it gives the housing consumer a technical
expert to help negotiate the paperwork and to provide explanations on various
housing programs.
Counseling functions include the following:
Evaluate current housing/energy needs
Discuss possible housing/energy solutions
Act as a resource person to the available county resources and make appropriate referrals
Offer financial/budgetary counseling (evaluate current income, debt load)
Derive appropriate household budget
Assistance in the preparation of housing/energy applications is available for the following programs:
Rural Development 502 Home Ownership Program and the 504 Home Improvement Program
County Weatherization Program
Other appropriate applications where necessary, i.e., Department of Social Services and Rental Housing
If appropriate, additional information on other available home ownership programs, i.e., SONYMA, NYS Affordable Home Ownership Program, HECM counseling and available conventional financing options, will be provided.