Housing Counseling

Rental Housing Counseling

The Fair Housing Partnership (FHP) provides Rental Counseling for families, with an emphasis on low-income and minority residents of Allegheny County.  FHP will provide these services through both one on one and group counseling within various communities, at a time and place that will ensure optimum participation. 

 

In addition to helping clients to improve their rental housing options through rental education, helps prepare clients to make more informed decisions, improve their ability to budget for needed expenses. Assisting families with rental counseling and helping them become successful renters is crucial to enabling them to one day becoming a successful home owner.

 

Counseling is a key tool that can be used to address housing problems facing low/moderate income families and individuals.  Its first purpose is to prepare people for addressing the double-edged problem of securing and maintaining decent housing, while also learning the techniques of sound fiscal management.  The second purpose recognizes that housing processes are complex and the information necessary to explore them fully, can be overwhelming. Housing counseling is provided in a series of client process steps and through instructional and advocacy services that are tailored to the individual client's particular housing position/need. FHP’s comprehensive Housing Counseling assists people in a coordinated and complete procedure.

 

Clients will complete this program with a knowledge of the laws governing landlord tenant contracting and the ability to respond appropriately if presented with an adverse situation during the housing search process or after lease-up. 

 

In addition, through one-on-one sessions and didactic group workshops we council clients in the following areas:

• How to access rental housing
• Negotiating with landlords
• Budget for expenses
• How to utilize rental subsidy programs