Department of Housing and Urban Development

Brothers Redevelopment congratulates the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for celebrating its 10th anniversary of the Office of Housing Counseling.

In the past 10 years, Brothers’ housing helpline, Colorado Housing Connects (1-844-926-6632), has provided housing counseling services to over 20,000 clients throughout Colorado. Brothers employs HUD-certified housing counselors that went through certification to demonstrate proficiency in industry topics like the responsibilities of homeownership and tenancy, avoidance of foreclosure and eviction, financial management, and fair housing.

As a HUD-approved housing counseling agency, Brothers provides services to address a full range of housing counseling needs. Services include assisting homebuyers in evaluating their readiness for a home purchase and navigating the homebuying process, helping clients find affordable housing, offering financial literacy training, and providing foreclosure prevention counseling.

“It is easy to overlook just how involved housing counseling can be. When we hear from a client facing foreclosure, it isn’t about preserving an asset — it is about fighting for their home, the place where they meet their most basic needs, raise their family, and build their life,” said Colorado Housing Connects Program Director Patrick Noonan.

“Not only do our counselors respond to a client in crisis with empathy and compassion in each conversation, but they also pour hours into finding resolutions for a homeowner facing displacement. It is the small details that can determine whether a resolution is approved,” Noonan added. “Our counselors work incredibly hard to get the details right and to meet the client where they are in the moment.”

Brothers has provided housing counseling services since 1981. In 2006, the organization was selected by the Colorado Division of Housing to manage the Colorado Foreclosure Hotline. Through the hotline, Brothers brought together counseling agencies across the state to help hundreds of thousands of homeowners facing foreclosure. As a need for rental assistance grew, Brothers expanded the Colorado Foreclosure Hotline in 2014 to cover all housing topics — leading to the launch of Colorado Housing Connects.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Brothers teamed up again with the Colorado Department of Local Affairs and the Colorado Division of Housing to launch the Housing Counseling Assistance Program. Funded by the Colorado Department of Local Affairs, the program involves Brothers collaborating with numerous housing counseling and legal services in Colorado to assist residents with comprehensive housing counseling, housing navigation and eviction prevention.

The service is free to all Coloradans and operated through Colorado Housing Connects. Among the housing counseling and legal services who are involved in the program include Boulder County, Douglas County Housing Partnership, NEWSED, Denver’s Southwest Improvement Council, and others.

To access Brothers’ housing counseling services, call Colorado Housing Connects at 1-844-926-6632 or visit coloradohousingconnects.org.

“Whether it was helping homeowners through the foreclosure challenges of the 2012 housing crisis, responding to the housing needs of victims of disasters, or the continuing housing relief and recovery resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, housing counselors have been there over the last decade to support families in making critical housing choices and equipping themselves for the future,” said HUD Deputy Assistant Secretary for Housing Counseling David Berenbaum in a statement. “This month, we recognize not only our role in helping people stay in their homes during times of crisis, but also in supporting a network of HUD Certified Housing Counselors who serve some 3,000 clients a day.”

Brothers Redevelopment celebrates milestone July 12 with HUD Secretary Ben Carson,
Gov. Jared Polis and Sen. Cory Gardner

AURORA, CO – Brothers Redevelopment, Inc., cut the ribbon July 12 on Paris Family Apartments, its newest affordable community, with help from HUD Secretary Ben Carson, Gov. Jared Polis, Sen. Cory Gardner and Aurora Mayor Bob LeGare.

Colorado Housing Finance Authority Executive Director Cris White also lent a hand at festivities marking a landmark achievement in housing lower-income families and providing them supportive services. Brothers president Jeff Martinez hosted the grand opening of the 39-unit Paris Family Apartments, which drew more than 100 guests, including enthusiastic Brothers’ Board of Directors and staff, for tours of the sleek modern building at 1702 Paris St.

The $13.5 million project is a model for strong local, state and federal partnership in providing affordable housing. Nonprofit housing agency Brothers developed Paris Family Apartments with the extensive creative and financial support of the City of Aurora. Paris is Brothers’ first affordable housing development in Aurora and its first funded with competitive Low-Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC).

“Every dollar pays a dividend in the form of healthier and happier families who have a better shot at a better future,” Secretary Carson said.

Paris Family Apartments’ two- and three-bedroom units are available to families with children who have household income at or below 60 percent of Average Median Income (AMI), and many have incomes at 30 percent AMI or below. Supportive services will be offered to residents.

Gov. Polis said that the goal of his administration is to save families money, which means increasing the state’s investment in affordable housing.

Sen. Gardner said every “nook and cranny” of Colorado needs more affordable housing. “If we get housing right, we make so many other problems of people (are easier to solve),” Gardner said

Paris is made possible by federal funds from HUD that are administered by several local participating jurisdictions, including the City of Aurora, Arapahoe County and the Colorado Division of Housing. Federal funds were matched by both private and philanthropic grants that helped secure Low-Income Housing Tax Credit funds issued through the Colorado Housing and Finance Authority, provider of a permanent loan. Wells Fargo is the equity and construction lender.

“Every one of these partners is abundantly critical,” CHFA Director White said.

“This all had to start at the City Council level,” Mayor LeGare said. “Mayor Steve Hogan was very, very focused on the need for affordable housing. … And Brothers has been an amazing partner for this type of development. They take it from the ground up and they run with it.”

Established in 1971, Brothers Redevelopment is a nonprofit providing housing and many housing-related services to more than 5,000 low-income elderly, disabled and other households each year. Paris Family Apartments is Brothers’ 14th affordable community in the Denver Metro Area.

Brothers congratulates HUD for 10 year anniversary of the Office of Housing Counseling

Grand Opening of Paris Family Apartments in Aurora