Assistance for organizations supporting homeownership for persons of color

(1) The Housing and Community Services Department, in consultation with the Oregon Housing Stability Council, shall provide grants and technical assistance to organizations that, in working with households with income at or below area median income, attempt to increase access for persons of color to programs and services that assist with homeownership, including counseling, financial literacy, post-purchase counseling and down payment assistance. (2) Technical assistance and grants provided to organizations under this section should prioritize organizations that have an identified commitment and capacity to: (a) Provide services to persons of color through services that incorporate the cultural values of the persons’ communities; (b) Support or expand culturally specific homeownership counseling and education programs for those populations with disparities in homeownership; (c) Leverage partnerships with the private sector, credit unions or other financial institutions; (d) Leverage funding from other nonprofit sources; or (e) Identify and use best practices in establishing course content guidelines and in exploring ways to systematically deliver certain services, including language access, program materials and counseling, to both increase service availability and reduce costs to individual providers, especially in rural areas.