Home Defense Program HUD-Certified Housing Counselor/Paralegal

About the Role

The Home Defense Program assists individuals and families to prevent the loss of their home through foreclosure, predatory mortgage lending, or home sale scams. The program is housed within Legal Aid's Decatur office; this is an in-office position. The unit currently consists of three full-time attorneys, one part-time attorney, one HUD-certified housing counselor/paralegal, and a paralegal.

Responsibilities

• Case intake and management, including answering the phone, conducting initial client intakes and interviews, gathering documentation, and presenting cases to the staff attorneys and at case acceptance meetings
• Housing counseling, financial analysis, budgeting, and action planning for low and moderate-income homeowner and homebuyer clients whose cases are taken for representation
• Assist attorneys with document preparation and execution, discovery, depositions and hearings, and other paralegal and clerical work
• Provide clients with information and advice under the strict supervision of an attorney
• Review and analyze applications for appropriate loss mitigation and foreclosure prevention options, such as deferrals, forbearances, partial claims, loan modifications, and/or mortgage assistance programs
• Data management, including entering information into Legal Aid's database and retrieving relevant data
• File management, including scanning documents into the client database, digital organization, filing, and archiving closed cases
• Ensure grant compliance, organize data and documentation required for grants, and assist in the preparation of periodic reports
• Conduct deed and lien searches
• Maintain a community outreach schedule and community education materials
• Other tasks as assigned

Qualifications

• HUD-Certified Housing Counselor credential required

Salary

$56,500 (may vary up or down depending on work experience; salaries reviewed annually and may be adjusted based on available funding).

Benefits

• 16 paid holidays in 2026
• 6 weeks of paid time off (accruing at 2.5 days per month)
• 6 weeks of parental leave (12 weeks after one year)
• Individual health insurance, including optional dental and vision coverage, with partial payment for dependent health insurance
• Life, long-term, and short-term disability insurance
• Salary reduction option for a flexible spending account
• Educational loan reimbursement up to $600 per month (after a set off of other loan reimbursement amounts)
• Voluntary tax-sheltered annuity with a 3% match
• This position may be eligible for Public Service Loan Forgiveness through the U.S. Department of Education