The term "housing counselling" refers to a wide variety of educational activities geared toward homebuyers, homeowners, renters, senior citizens, or other populations with particular housing goals. Some potential topics of housing counselling include pre-purchase counselling for potential homebuyers; post-purchase counselling on subjects such as budgeting or home maintenance and foreclosure prevention. This book describes the housing counselling industry in general, with a focus on HUD's processes for certifying housing counselling agencies and distributing housing counselling funding.