The National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC) announced today it is extending the application period for its new Housing Counseling Services (HCS) grant program to May 30, 2025, for new select geographies.
The HCS program, a part of the well-established, multi-year Field Empowerment Fund (FEF), was launched in February through a partnership with KeyBank. The current extension is the result of a partnership with HSBC, which will allocate an additional $1.2 million in HSBC geographies for direct-to-client housing counseling services that will be awarded in three rounds.
The FEF-HCS program supports NCRC members within the HSBC and KeyBank footprints who are HUD-approved housing counseling agencies in driving homeownership in their communities. It will also help HCS-FEF award recipients build agency knowledge to better equip first-time and low-income home buying households with the know-how to retain intergenerational wealth.
“We’re thrilled to expand housing counseling services in communities where vulnerable homeowners are most at risk from the volatility of the American economy in 2025, and where far too many would-be homeowners have been stuck renting for far too long,” said Jesse Van Tol, President and CEO of NCRC. “Anyone who spends any time in historically disinvested pockets of this country understands why NCRC does what we do. Programming like this, which we produced through the targeted commitments in our partnerships with HSBC and KeyBank, demonstrate how we do it.”
Since its inception in 2021, FEF has delivered more than $6.7 million in grants to 66 NCRC member organizations serving low- and moderate-income (LMI) communities.
“We are thrilled to be able to expand the impact and geographical scope of the FEF-HCS program with this additional funding allocation. Our members are delivering critical support for first-time homebuyers, driving housing stability and empowering communities to create generational wealth,” NCRC Director of Grant Administration Laura Bentley said. “NCRC is honored to work alongside these agencies as they create positive change, build up agency capacity and bolster housing acquisition knowledge through this program.”
All applications should be submitted through NCRC’s online portal no later than 5 pm ET on May 30, 2025.
To see if your agency is in an eligible geography or for additional information, visit: www.ncrc.org/fef.
Questions regarding this opportunity should be emailed to impact@ncrc.org, with the subject line “FEF-HCS.”
