Budget cuts rattle Twin Cities non-profits

These are not happy days at some Twin Cities nonprofit housing groups. Budget cuts in Washington stand to cut deep into already-tight budgets for programs that help families with a variety of housing-related issues. In the wake of a Friday vote in Congress, there's tremendous concern about what's going to happen to foreclosure prevention programs, which receive federal funding but are administered locally.
I talked with Matt Haugen, communications manager for the Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity, and he said that if HUD's budget is cut by 6.4 percent, as proposed, that means the elimination of the entire Housing Counseling Assistance program's $88 million budget. That program funds a variety of housing programs, including those that help people avoid foreclosure prevention scams.
He estimated that more than 50 nonprofits and local government agencies in Minnesota will take a hit, including the one operated by Habitat.

Haugen said that that program helped 1,000 struggling homeowners in Minneapolis in 2010. Of those who seek foreclosure prevention services, 60 percent are successful in preventing foreclosure. And Haugen said that foreclosure prevention counselors across the have prevented more than 30,000 foreclosures since the crisis began.

On Monday, the NAACP, the National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development, the National Urban League and the National Council of La Raza are going to hold a conference call to protest the elimination of funding for the US Department of Housing and Urban Development's Housing Counseling Assistance Program.