Thursday, September 26, 2013

United Housing and Binghampton Development Corporation Recognized with THDA Founders Award

United Housing, Inc. was recently recognized by the Tennessee Housing Development Agency (THDA) during a recent industry peer session. Tim Bolding, Executive Director of United Housing and Sharon Walker, United Housing’s Homebuyer Education Manager, joined Ruth Gibson of the Binghampton Development Corporation to accept THDA’s Founders Award. The award recognized the two organizations for their efforts in creating the foundation for homebuyer education in Tennessee.


“Tim, Sharon and Ruth were all instrumental in providing insight, opinion and participation in THDA’s early efforts to establish the homebuyer education counseling program,” said Lindsay Hall, Senior Director of Single Family Programs at Tennessee Housing Development Agency.

New research on the effectiveness of pre-purchase housing counseling and education shows that homebuyers who received such advice were one-third less likely to fall behind on their mortgages 90 days or more, two years after taking out the loan, compared to homebuyers who didn’t receive similar counseling and education. The research was done for NeighborWorks America, a national nonprofit affiliated with United Housing, by Neil Mayer and Associates and Experian, and is based on approximately 75,000 mortgage loans originated in 2007, 2008 and 2009.

“The latest research clearly tells us that we need to help families with their housing issues ahead of time, staving off family stress, financial difficulties and costs that are borne by neighbors and the city,” said Bolding. “The proven effectiveness of homebuyer education, as well as the recent recognition from THDA, is encouraging to our team, who has worked diligently to ensure our counseling program is meeting the needs of our customers. Our experience in education and counseling is complemented by our partner in this award, who is using a holistic approach to communicate to and serve the residents of Binghampton.”

During the last fiscal year, United Housing counseled more than 1,000 individuals and families through its Homebuyer Education and Foreclosure Prevention programs. The organization also assisted 541 families during the year, helping 284 purchase a home while helping save 257 from foreclosure. Last year, Binghampton Development Corporation assisted 291 clients, including 76 homebuyer clients and 131 foreclosure interventions.

“We’re very proud to share this recognition with United Housing, who like Binghampton, is doing significant work to help struggling families in our community,” said Robert Montague, Executive Director of Binghampton Development Corporation.

In addition to the THDA recognition, United Housing recently received a counseling grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The grant, awarded in two installments by NeighborWorks America, will fund a portion of United Housing’s housing counseling and education expenses.

About Binghampton Development Corporation
The Binghampton Development Corporation was founded in 2003 and is an independent, nonprofit community development corporation. For more information, visit bdcmemphis.org.