Local Nonprofit Receives Grant to Help Local Residents Stay in Homes

Catholic Charities Housing Services (CCHS) is pleased to announce that it has been awarded $395,563 by the Washington State Attorney General’s Office to develop and maintain programs and services that assist local homeowners that are at risk of foreclosure.

With help from the grant funds, CCHS plans to dramatically increase the number of individuals it currently serves through its no-cost homeowner counseling program by hiring an additional housing counselor focused solely on foreclosure prevention and mediation and a part-time program assistant.

“Our goal is to ensure that homeowners have access to the full-range of resources and programs available to help them stay in their homes,” says Bryan Ketcham, Director of Catholic Charities Housing Services.  “We anticipate that we will be able to double the population that we are currently serving through our housing counseling program upon receiving this funding.”

In addition, to adding in-house staff to assist homeowners, CCHS will also use almost a third of the grant award to establish and support a public outreach campaign to provide information to the public, especially low-income homeowners in properties facing foreclosure.  The public outreach campaign will be designed to inform English and Spanish speakers, and other target audiences most in need of additional resources and assistance.  The informational campaign will be designed to direct clients to take immediate action and contact a trusted local resource (2-1-1 hotline) for referral services to housing counseling agencies, dispute resolution centers, and legal assistance programs.