The El Paso Affordable Housing
(EPAH) can assist you by providing the tools and services you need
to buy a home, maintaining good credit, budget your monthly
expenses, and save towards a stable and viable future in
your community.
Member Social Services
Programs: 
Besides providing financial educations, the EPAH has promoted strategies
and programs as tools for participants to implement the
financial education they learn. Various wealth creation
initiatives have been developed by partnering with
like-minded organizations, to leverage resources.
Financial Education
El Paso Affordable Housing CUSO delivers
comprehensive financial education and home
ownership workshops. The workshops and all materials are
provided free to participants, and due to demand approximately 65% are held in Spanish. Outreach is done through
community organizations, school districts, housing
organizations, employers, government organizations, and
credit unions. Participants who successfully complete this
course receive a certificate that is required by many first
time homeowner programs and by the HOME program of the City
of El Paso . With this certificate, borrowers may be able to
qualify and receive up to $35,000 in home purchase
assistance. As of Dec 31, 2008 , approximately 7300 participants had attended the financial literacy
and home ownership classes.
Housing Counseling
As an affiliate of the National Federal Community Development Credit Union, El Paso Affordable Housing CUSO is
certified as a HUD housing counseling agency. The
mission of the program is to assist low-to-moderate income
families obtain a home at a fair price using a fair equitable purchase loan and prevent homeowners in financial
difficulty to keep their home. This program is implemented
through workshops and one-on-one counseling sessions.
In 2008, 1153 individuals
attended our home ownership workshops and we assisted
735 families through one-on-one housing
counseling. We have assisted over 300 families purchase a home since 2003.
First Accounts - Savings
This program was developed in partnership
with the U.S. Dept of Treasury, NCUF, and the credit union
partners, to help un-banked families and individuals become
part of the economic mainstream by helping them open a
savings account. The goal of the EPAH was to open 4000
credit union savings accounts over a period of 2 years, since we think savings is fundamental to achieve financial stability, we have continued the program. Our
outreach is done through the financial education program and
our partnership with the credit unions. Since January
2003 we have documented a total of approximately
12,300 credit union savings first accounts
opened, of which 1614 were opened in 2008.
El Paso Affordable Housing CUSO partnered
with the Consumer Federation of America, Office of
Congressman Silvestre Reyes, Texas Department of Housing and
Community Affairs, Fannie Mae, 10 local credit unions, and
other organizations to implement a social marketing campaign
to encourage El Pasoans to save by opening savings accounts
or by using their current savings accounts. El Paso Saves
promotes saving towards an asset development goal, such as
saving for a down payment on a home or car, for retirement,
education, a business, or investment. Participants pledge to
save a periodic amount over a certain time to achieve a
pre-determined goal. In return for making the pledge, they
will receive a free quarterly e-newsletter from the America
Saves Campaign offering tips and strategies on saving. Participants will also have free access to our
Financial Education workshops and Financial Education materials. The Consumer Federation of America sent 2
trainers to train wealth coaches and provided the America Saves & Hispanic America Saves websites. They also provided layouts
for advertising and brochures.
El Paso Saves is available by phone – 533-SAVE
– and by internet – http://www.elpasosaves.com/. Through the
end of 2008, 2003 people have enrolled in
the program.
The Hispanic America Saves Campaign through Credit Unions is a national cooperative marketing campaign for the Credit Union industry to service this strongly emerging market at all income levels and be able to compete with national banks and other national high cost financial services providers. The program is a good fit for Credit Unions—it is a cooperative, it targets underserved communities, and will assist the Credit Union industry to access emerging markets with culturally and linguistically sensitive marketing materials, delivery methods, and the development of new or improved products and product delivery methods. Partnering with the Hispanic America Saves Campaign and NLCUP will allow the use of current resources in developing a national strategy for Credit Unions to become a major partner in servicing the financial needs of the Latino/Hispanic community. Each partner has resources that together will complement the development and implementation of this program. The Hispanic America Saves Campaign demonstrates a highly visible credit union commitment to family asset development and outreach to low- and moderate-income Hispanic households.
If you are an individual interested in setting up a HAS program click here to view a Powerpoint presentation.
If you are a credit union or credit union partner interested in setting up a HAS program click here to view a Powerpoint presentation.
Coalition for
Family Economic Progress - Building Strong Families for El
Paso's Future
http://www.freetaxeselpaso.org/
El Paso Affordable Housing directs the Coalition for Family Economic Progress (CFEP), which operates the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) Program. The VITA Program provides low-to-moderate-income taxpayers with free income tax preparation, thus granting families their complete refund and helping them to abusive and usurious tax preparers.
After working two years the fledgling El Paso County VITA Tax Coalition, the IRS asked the AHCUSO to co-found with it, and a couple of other partners, the El Paso Coalition for Family Economic Progress (CFEP) since 2005, EPAH has coordinated and managed the CFEP since then. It is a coalition of 16 core non-profit organizations and government agencies that deliver the VITA free tax preparation services to El Paso County. Below is a history of its performance.
| Tax Year |
2003 |
2004 |
2005 |
2006 |
2007 |
2008 |
2009 |
2010 |
Total |
| # Returns |
42 |
76 |
208 |
178 |
589 |
692 |
895 |
1152 |
3832 |
| Total Refunds |
$30,978 |
$108,226 |
$350,058 |
$353,478 |
$653,134 |
$1,349,249 |
$1,769,279 |
$2,561,313 |
$7,175,715 |
| Est. Savings to
taxpayers* |
$8,694 |
$15,732 |
$43,056 |
$36,846 |
$135.470 |
$200,68018 |
$185,265 |
$238,464 |
$864,207 |
*Est. cost of Tax Prep.with Schedules
& RAL fees =$207
Of these sites 16 were coordinated and directly managed by El Paso Affordable Housing and 12 were managed by AARP. For the 2010-2011 tax year, the 16 El Paso Affordable Housing coordinated sites totaled 5,200 returns prepared and AARP totaled 3,816 returns prepared:.
|
Tax Year |
2003 |
2004 |
2005 |
2006 |
2007 |
2008 |
2009 |
2010 |
Total |
| # Returns |
5186 |
7311 |
7755
|
8533 |
12090 |
9200 |
8785 |
9016 |
67876 |
| Total Refunds |
$4.4
MM |
$4.5
MM |
$9.5 MM
|
$11.2
MM |
$12.0
MM |
$13.5
MM |
$15.40 MM |
$15.00 MM |
$62.30 MM |
| Est. Savings to
taxpayers* |
$1,073,500 |
$1,513,377 |
$1,605,285 |
$1,766,331 |
$2,780,700 |
$2,668,000 |
$1,818,495 |
$1,866,312 |
$15,092,000 |
*Est. cost of Tax Prep.with Schedules
& RAL fees =$207
