Housing Groups Agree on Standards For Education and Counseling Work.

WASHINGTON -- Concluding a decade-long effort to prevent predatory and poor lending practices, a group of organizations has launched voluntary compliance-based education standards and a "code of ethics."

Initiated by NeighborWorks America Inc., the standards - developed by an advisory council of some of the country's largest for-profit and nonprofit organizations - can be found at homeownershipstandards.com.

It is the first time that representatives from all of the housing industry have agreed on a set of national benchmarks.

"The development of national standards for homeownership education and counseling together with a national code of conduct was spearheaded in a collaborative spirit," said Mike Haley, assistant commissioner of Minnesota Housing and national advisory council chair. "The ultimate beneficiaries will be homeowners."

The goal, NeighborWorks said, is to enable consumers to avoid unscrupulous mortgage brokers, avoid foreclosure due to inappropriate mortgage products and to bring some uniformity to the homeownership counseling industry. If broadly adopted, NeighborWorks said upon the launch, these standards "will help prevent in the future the wave of foreclosures that the housing market is experiencing today."

Industry standardization is expected to strengthen the professional credentials of more than 10,000 homeownership professionals currently working in the industry while assisting millions of potential and existing homeowners.

"I can see brokers caring about this news because it directly supports their own national efforts to bring some consistency to the mortgage education process," said NeighborWorks Center for Homeownership Education and Counseling director, Jayna Bower. "And I certainly can see servicers wanting to hear about activities intended to reduce foreclosures."