HUD-Certified Housing Counselor

To apply, please send your resume and cover letter to Sarah Beaumont at sarah@cdcutah.org

JOB SUMMARY: 

The Community Development Corporation of Utah (CDCU) and its affiliated organizations – Community Development Fund of Utah (CDF) and Community Development Land Trust (CDLT) – help our community thrive by empowering individuals and families on their path toward financial security, housing stability, and access to affordable housing opportunities. Through comprehensive housing counseling, financial education, and housing assistance programs, CDCU supports low to moderate (LMI) renters and homeowners in achieving long-term housing and financial sustainability.

As a HUD certified housing counselor, you'll sit across from someone facing foreclosure or help a first-generation homebuyer understand what a debt-to-income ratio means for their life. You'll provide no-cost, one-on-one counseling and group education in financial literacy, homebuyer readiness, foreclosure prevention, eviction avoidance, and housing stability. And you'll do it as part of a team that nearly 6,000 households have trusted with the biggest financial decisions of their lives. This work isn’t a single appointment and a handoff; you’ll stay with clients through the setbacks and the paperwork and be there when they get the keys.

PRIMARY DUTIES/RESPONSIBILITIES:

The HUD Certified Housing Counselor provides comprehensive, independent, and client-centered housing counseling services in accordance with HUD Housing Counseling Program regulations.

Intake & Assessment

• Engage with potential clients to assess their housing and financial needs and determine whether they would benefit from CDCU’s housing counseling services, with timely follow-up to move qualified prospects into the program.
• Respond promptly to client and community inquiries, maintaining consistent availability to answer questions and connect individuals to appropriate internal and external resources, programs, and service.
• Conduct client intake assessments, collecting household demographics, contact information, housing barriers, and financial data to determine client needs.

Counseling & Client Services

• Provide individual counseling on home purchase, homeownership, budgeting, credit improvement, foreclosure prevention, rental stability, post purchase, and financial security, with regular client follow-up.
• Assist in homebuyer education and financial education workshops.
• Assist clients in developing individualized action plans.
• Document individual counseling sessions in accordance with HUD and agency requirements, including session notes, topics covered, and outcomes.
• Proactively manage workload, calendar, and client appointments to help meet the goals of the organization and serve clients effectively.

Data Tracking & Compliance

• Maintain accurate, complete electronic client files in compliance with HUD regulations and agency requirements. Complete records make it possible to measure whether clients reach long-term stability.
• Document client interactions, progress toward stability, program outcomes, and grant reporting information in Salesforce and other required systems.
• Follow team data entry standards so records stay consistent across team members and adapt to new systems and workflows as needed.
• Use outcome data to help the team measure impact and confirm programs are serving the community as intended.
• Adhere to all guidelines related to the confidentiality of client records and information and requirements per the HUD Housing Counseling Handbook and National Industry Standards for Homebuyer Education and Counseling.

Professional & Team Contributions

• Build and maintain collaborative, respectful relationships with colleagues, partners, and clients of diverse backgrounds and perspectives.
• Participate in HUD webinars, training, and professional development opportunities to maintain certifications and expand expertise.
• Demonstrates respect and courtesy to others, cooperates with team members, and values the opinions and concerns of clients, staff, and the public.
• Other duties as assigned.

WHO WILL SUCCEED IN THIS ROLE

You're driven by helping underserved communities reach real financial and housing stability, and that shows up in how you work: you listen without judgment, and you stay curious about a household's specific situation rather than reaching for a one-size-fits-all answer. No two clients' paths look the same, so you're comfortable thinking creatively about which combination of resources — inside CDCU or beyond it — actually fits the person in front of you.

Day to day, you can hold the full shape of the job: one-on-one sessions (in person and remote), plus the administrative work behind them — case notes, documentation, the details that let our impact reporting hold up. And because we're a small organization, you look for ways to help your team and the org beyond your own caseload, not just your own numbers.

WHO THIS ROLE IS NOT A FIT FOR

This isn't a desk job — if you're looking for work that's mostly data entry with minimal direct client contact, this role will disappoint you; the counseling itself is the core of the work, and the documentation supports it, not the other way around. It also depends on comfort working with numbers and explaining financial concepts back to someone clearly, so it won't suit someone who isn't confident with basic math or plain-language communication. And because caseloads shift and coverage depends on people pitching in for each other, it's not a fit for someone who'd rather work independently than as part of a small, interdependent team.

ESSENTIAL QUALIFICATIONS/REQUIREMENTS:

EDUCATION/ EXPERIENCE: 

1.) HUD Certified housing counselor strongly preferred. Candidates who are not currently certified must obtain HUD Housing Counselor certification within six (6) months of employment.

2.) Spanish bi-lingual strongly preferred.

3.) Bachelor’s degree in personal finance, counseling, or related field, or

4.) Two or more years of real estate, mortgage lending, title/escrow, or financial services experience also acceptable, or   

5.) Two or more years of education or on the job training in counseling and education; housing, poverty/low-income services, and financial coaching.

KNOWLEDGE/SKILLS:

1.) Knowledgeable in credit, money management, housing finance, loss mitigation, lending practices, personal financial management, computer data entry, and record keeping

2.) Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite, Salesforce CRM and ability to quickly learn new software systems and databases.

3.) College level English, strong math aptitude, and comfortable with financial and numerical data.

4.) Comfortable with clients who arrive discouraged or overwhelmed, and skilled at helping them leave with direction.

5.) Able to work independently and as part of a team invested in the organization's mission, and reliable when colleagues need backup.

6.) Strong counseling, teaching, interpersonal, and public speaking skills, including presentations to individuals, groups, and professionals.

7.) Learn and present a defined curriculum in a manner understandable and relatable to clients, provide ideas to improve curriculum.

WORK ENVIRONMENT:

PHYSICAL/MENTAL DEMANDS:  Office environment with some travel

HOURS:  40 hours/week. Monday-Friday 8:00AM-5:00PM. Some evenings and Saturdays required. This position follows a hybrid schedule requiring 4 days per week in the office and 1 remote workday per week.

This job description in no way states or implies that these are the only duties to be performed by the employee incumbent in this position.  Employee will be required to follow any other job related instructions and to perform any other job-related duties requested by any person authorized to give instructions or assignments.

This document does not create an employment contract, implied or otherwise, other than an “at will” relationship.