The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) will hold the next its next Housing Counseling Federal Advisory Committee meeting at the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles, according to a news release.
“There is a critical need to reach more homebuyers and renters through housing counseling, including those in the Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander community," Julia Gordon, HUD Assistant Secretary for Housing and Federal Housing Commissioner, said in a statement. "This HCFAC meeting reinforces our dedication to removing barriers to homeownership in underserved communities, including language access challenges that can pose an obstacle to achieving successful homeownership.”
On June 29, 2023, the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles, California will serve as the location for the following meeting of the Housing Counseling Federal Advisory Committee of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The conference is open to the public and will support HUD's ongoing initiatives to reach out to Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander communities in greater depth by providing housing counseling services that are sensitive to their cultural traditions, preferred languages, and communication needs.
It has been at least five years since the last HCFAC meeting was conducted away from HUD's headquarters in Washington, DC., according to the news release.
Members and employees of the National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development will join the HCFAC at this meeting to talk about how to effectively satisfy the housing needs of a community that speaks more than 40 languages. The group will also talk about the difficulties that households with poor English proficiency encounter while trying to become homeowners. Following the publication of numerous Federal Housing Administration (FHA) mortgage paperwork and educational materials in the languages of Chinese, Korean, Spanish, Tagalog, and Vietnamese on June 13, 2023, HUD held the meeting.
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Housing Counseling David Berenbaum said: “We look forward to connecting with our partners at the Japanese American National Museum, a cultural landmark in the heart of Los Angeles, which many members of the Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander live and call home," said Deputy Assistant Secretary for Housing Counseling David Berenbaum. "Similar to our recently launched ‘Let’s Make Home the Goal’ campaign, this is part of our ongoing efforts to reach more potential homebuyers, provide appropriate counseling that meets their cultural and language needs, and educate the next generation of home seekers about the benefits of housing counseling services."
HUD's Office of Housing Counseling formed the Housing Counseling Federal Advisory Committee in April 2015. It provides persons interested in housing counseling a venue to directly advise the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Housing Counseling on how to further the goals of HUD's Office of Housing Counseling, the agency said.. Public attendance is permitted at all Committee sessions.
