Texas Department of Housing & Community Affairs - Building Homes and Strengthening Communities

Texas Statewide Homebuyer Education Program (TSHEP)

Registration for Summer Training - Now Available

Registration is available for the next training session August 5th-9th in Dallas. The Texas State Affordable Housing Corporation (TSAHC) is partnering with NeighborWorks to provide the following:

  • HO250: Homeownership Counseling Certification: Principles, Practices, and Techniques Part 1(5 day course)
  • HO310: Financial Coaching- Helping Clients Reach their Goals (2 day course)
  • HO285 Transitioning Consumers: Counseling Clients to take the next step (2 day course)
  • Scholarship opportunities are available

Registration deadline: July 3, 2013. Visit the TSAHC website for more information and to register.

Contact Sarah Ellinor at sellinor@tsahc.org or (512) 220-1171 if you have questions.

Legislative Overview

In 1997, the 75th Texas Legislature passed HB 2577, which charged the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA) with the development and implementation of a statewide homebuyer education program, designed to provide information and counseling to prospective homebuyers about the home buying process. The Texas Statewide Homebuyer Education Program (TSHEP) was created to fulfill this mandate.

Training and Certification Program

To ensure uniform quality of the homebuyer education provided throughout the state, TDHCA contracted with a nationally recognized organization to teach local nonprofit organizations the principles and applications of comprehensive pre- and post purchase homebuyer education, and to certify participants as providers. To date approximately 600 individuals have been certified as homebuyer education providers by the Texas Statewide Homebuyer Education Program.

As a partner for the past several years, the Texas State Affordable Housing Corporation (TSAHC) has worked in conjunction with TDHCA to serve as a nonprofit sponsor of monies donated to TSHEP and to manage and account for funds. As a result, TDHCA in conjunction with its Governing Board, made the decision to also transfer the day to day administration of the program to TSAHC effective September 1, 2012. TDHCA will continue to provide a portion of the funding for the program and will remain engaged and provide oversight on an on-going basis.

For more information regarding the Texas Statewide Homebuyer Education Program, you may contact Sarah Ellinor with TSAHC at (512) 220-1171.

Homebuyer Education Counseling

Texans in need of homebuyer education/credit counseling assistance can get a list of certified providers in their area of the state using Help for Texans.