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- SERVING RED HOOK, SOUTH PARK SLOPE AND SUNSET PARK -

The Official Word
Announcements From the Public Officials of District 38

Sunset Park Organization Testifies Before Congress
Congresswoman Nydia M. Velázquez (D-N.Y.) recently heard testimony from Lisa-Nicolle Grist of the Sunset Park, Brooklyn-based organization Neighbors Helping Neighbors (NHN) on the importance of housing counseling.
"Housing is typically a person's largest expense and investment, and the price and quality of housing is affected by a complex set of institutions," Ms. Grist said. "Therefore, housing counseling helps educate consumers and level the playing field between individuals and institutions that naturally have very different amounts of information and power. For example, housing counseling creates confidence for first-time homebuyers facing mortgage banks, tenants facing housing court, and homeowners facing foreclosure attorneys."
The hearing was held in the Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity of the Committee on Financial Services and focused on the housing counseling legislation recently unveiled by Congresswoman Velázquez. The Expanding Housing Opportunities Through Education and Counseling Act establishes the Office of Housing Counseling at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). This office will be charged with consolidating and expanding the patchwork of housing counseling initiatives and services at the agency. It also authorizes federal grants to provide a direct source of funding to local agencies and non-profit organizations providing housing counseling services.
"The number of foreclosures are increasing nationwide and skyrocketing in many local communities," Congresswoman Velázquez said. "Housing counseling is not just an important initial step in the process of purchasing a home - it's critical to ensuring that new homeowners know what's on the table and what's at stake when they sign on the bottom line."
In her testimony, Ms. Grist discussed the role NHN plays in the housing counseling process for local residents, many of them low-income, and spoke about their experience with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and other city and state organizations, member banks, foundations and individual donors. She also stressed the importance of rental counseling, as well as homeownership counseling.
NHN is a community-based advocacy organization serving tenants, homebuyers, and owners of small properties and small businesses. The mission of NHN is to enable low- and moderate-income people to build assets for their families and Brooklyn communities by securing, improving, and owning their homes and businesses.

Homepage of the Community Gazette for District 38
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THE OFFICIAL WORD FOR DISTRICT 38
Sunset Park Organization Testifies Before Congress
(Mar 22, 2004)
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