HUD Housing Counselor Certification:
Updated Training Materials
The HUD Housing Counselors Training and Testing for Certification website is updated with training materials for HUD’s Housing Counseling Certification.
The training materials, including the interactive online modules, downloadable study guide (both English and Spanish versions), knowledge assessment, and practice examination, are updated and republished (Version 202109). Content changes in the release include:
- Revisions to Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) content including information related to the Restoring AFFH Definitions and Certifications Interim Final Rule
- Clarification regarding the client action plan
- Clarification regarding borrowing from retirement accounts
- Clarification regarding front-end and back-end ratios
- Revisions to upfront costs for the Veterans Affairs (VA) and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) loans
- Clarification regarding the fair housing complaint process
- Addition of information related to disasters and national emergencies
- Removal of information related to mortgage payment assistance programs, Making Home Affordable, and Hardest Hit Funds
- Clarification regarding transition assistance programs
- Clarification regarding locating affordable housing resources
Other minor content clarifications and enhancements, including link updates, are applied throughout the training material. Housing counselors are encouraged to review the updated training materials in preparation for the certification exam. If you have downloaded the previous study guide, HUD recommends you delete that version and use the latest version.
Please note: Your online study module completion status, which is accessible in your user profile, resets as the modules are replaced. The HUDHousingCounselors.com portal provides a full revision history of training materials, detailing changes to specific modules. Modules are dated to ensure users are accessing the most recent version.
To refresh HUD Housing Counselors Training and Exam materials, Bixal conducts periodic content reviews for updates and enhancements based on new legislation, regulatory updates, programmatic changes, and housing counselor feedback. A team of exam certification experts and subject matter experts, including a diverse team of housing counselors with a breadth and depth of experience, supports content updates, and validates revisions.
If you have any questions about Housing Counselor Certification website training content or any other housing counseling topic, please email HUD at: housing.counselors@hud.gov.