Description
In 2020, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) provided rental assistance to approximately 4.6 million low-income households, including elderly residents, individuals with disabilities, and veterans.
Designated Services
- Seeking information about FHA loan programs and loss mitigation services
- Filing a housing discrimination complaint
Seeking information about FHA loan programs and loss mitigation services
Description
Trying to buy, maintain, keep and/or sell a home can be daunting. It is difficult to know what programs and provisions are available to help throughout the lifecycle of homeownership. Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans enable millions of families and individuals obtain the dream of homeownership. While FHA loans are secured through intermediary lenders, the FHA sets the policy for any FHA loans. Therefore, people look to FHA using the FHA Resource Center (FHA RC), as an authoritative source, to understand what is available to them. Additionally, the FHA Resource Center houses the National Servicing Center that is tasked to work with homeowners and their lenders to avoid foreclosure. Finally, because the contact center is the most responsive contact center at HUD, customers, generally in distress, contact the FHA RC about other services, including discrimination, public housing and homelessness. Because of the many occasions and topics that lead customers to the resource center, it is not limited to one service but rather many different services customers can receive, helping about one million people a year. The FHA Resource Center provides answers and responses to customers looking to buy a home, qualify for a loan, and receive down payment assistance. The FHA Resource Center has a multi-channel contact center and the ability to receive email inquiries from our customers by utilizing three different email accounts.
Why this service was designated
The FHA Resource Center is the most responsive contact center at HUD. Customers, generally in distress, contact the FHA Resource Center about other services, including discrimination, public housing, and homelessness. Because of the many occasions and topics that lead customers to the resource center, it is not limited to one service but many different services customers can receive. Additionally, the FHA Resource Center houses the National Servicing Center tasked with working with homeowners and their lenders to avoid foreclosure. Focusing on this service will help the 8.5 million people who have FHA loans, the millions of people who need these loans to purchase a home, the hundreds of thousands of people facing foreclosure, and the several others who need other services get the answers they need about FHA loans, get help through the loss mitigation process and find answers to their other HUD related questions.
Quarterly data reported
Q3 2022
What we learned from this quarter's data:
Service details
Transaction point: The survey is offered to the client after the service is provided by the Tier 1 and 2 Customer Service Representatives at the FHA Resource Center or after the Tier 3 interaction is completed by a Subject Matter Expert (SME) in the agency.
Channel: phone
People served: 196800
Surveys offered: 4118
Responses: 398
Transaction point: The survey is offered to the client after the service is provided by the Tier 1 and 2 Customer Service Representatives at the FHA Resource Center or after the Tier 3 interaction is completed by the HUD's National Servicing Center staff or their National Servicing Center loan servicing contractor.
Channel: phone
People served: 196800
Surveys offered: 1176
Responses: 146
Filing a housing discrimination complaint
Description
The complaint process is a service that allows the public to connect directly with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to seek remedies for alleged discrimination in housing. It is free to file a complaint, which reduces barriers to these HUD services and eliminates the financial burden of hiring a lawyer. A customer engages in the complaint process when they need an advocate because they feel they have experienced housing discrimination on the seven protected classes (race, color, national origin, religion, sex, disability, and familial status). The customer receives investigative and conciliation services from HUD to settle allegations of discrimination in housing.
Why this service was designated
HUD’s Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity (FHEO) completed a service blueprint in FY19. The complaint process was identified as a major pain point within the Fair Housing Enforcement Division. It is critical that customers can progress through and complete the FHEO complaint process, as these complaints trigger investigations and resolutions that enforce the Fair Housing Act. In the future, FHEO wants to improve the complaint process by providing complainants with real-time updates and information on how their cases will be adjudicated. In FY 21, Customers filed 8,402 housing discrimination complaints. Of these, 1,683 complaints were conciliated, which is approximately 20% of cases.