Title
Housing Counseling and Education Services
Action
Action:
A. Approve a contract with DreamKey Partners, Inc. (formerly Charlotte-Mecklenburg Housing Partnership) to provide housing counseling and education services for an initial term of one year, and
B. Authorize the City Manager to renew the contract for up to two, one-year terms with possible price adjustments and to amend the contract consistent with the purpose for which the contract was approved.
Body
Staff Resource(s):
Pamela Wideman, Housing and Neighborhood Services
Miles Vaughn, Housing and Neighborhood Services
Explanation
* The city desires to continue partnering with DreamKey Partners, Inc., certified by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), to provide housing counseling and education services to prospective home buyers and homeowners.
* Homeownership is a key component in creating family self-sufficiency, economic mobility, and neighborhood stabilization.
* DreamKey Partners, Inc. will provide various types of counseling and education services to first-time home buyers and homeowners, including pre-purchase education, pre-closing education, post-home ownership counseling, individual financial counseling, and foreclosure prevention counseling. Services will include the ability to offer both virtual and in-person counseling and education and employ social distancing measures.
* DreamKey Partners, Inc. will serve a minimum of 675 households annually.
* The city has been partnering with HUD-certified organizations to offer these services since 2002. The counseling and education services are available to all Charlotte low- to moderate-income households; participants in the House Charlotte down payment assistance program are required to participate to help ensure they are positioned for homeownership success.
* On April 16, 2021, the city issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) for these services; three responses were received.
* DreamKey Partners, Inc. meets the city's n...
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