our history
V-NHA is a volunteer led program of Neighborhood Housing Services of Orange County (NHS OC). V-NHA officially started in January 2009, although its roots stretch back to 2005. In 2005, NHS OC recognized the need to provide housing counseling services to the large Vietnamese community in Orange County. They collaborated with community partners and a long time NHS OC volunteer, Helen Tran, by providing first time homebuyer classes in Vietnamese.
In 2006 a student from the University of California Irvine’s Masters in Urban Planning program, Suzy L. Kim, did a research report titled “Orange County Asian and Pacific Islanders: Affordable Housing Needs and Outreach Strategies” for NHS OC. This report identified the low participation of Asian and Pacific Islanders in housing programs in Orange County and confirmed the need for Vietnamese housing counseling.
Soon after the foreclosure storm hit Southern California, NHS OC began providing foreclosure prevention counseling. With the initiation of the foreclosure prevention counseling program, NHS OC saw that the need to provide assistance to the Vietnamese community was greater than ever. Helen began working as a foreclosure prevention and first time home buyer housing counselor at NHS OC in April 2008.
In January 2009, NHS OC asked Helen to take the lead in recruiting a core group who would form a Vietnamese collaborative in order to take larger efforts to outreach to the Vietnamese community. This core group included V-NHA’s current President, Elizabeth Nguyen. V-NHA now consists of 15 members including representatives from the Office of Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez, the Office of State Senator Lou Correa, Chase, Bank of America, Americhoice Financial and Insurance Services, Legal Aid Society, Public Law Center, and Neighborhood Housing Services of Orange County.
As a part of marketing and outreach for V-NHA, Helen hosts a radio show in Vietnamese which airs on KXMX 1190 AM. This radio show covers information for first time homebuyers including information about down payment assistance, lenders, home insurance, home inspections, how to choose a realtor, and credit scores. She also covers foreclosure prevention information and publicizes V-NHA events on air. In addition to radio, V-NHA publicizes in the Vietnamese newspapers and on television channels associated with Westminster’s Little Saigon community.
our events
Since its inception in January 2009, V-NHA has hosted two foreclosure prevention events and is planning for a first time homebuyer fair. All events include presentations in Vietnamese and translation is provided for any presenter who does not speak Vietnamese. Because V-NHA is associated with NHS OC, which is a chartered member of NeighborWorks America, its events can be publicized as HUD approved.
The first foreclosure prevention forum was held on June 6, 2009 at the Coastline Community College Center in Garden Grove, California. 120 people attended this event. Families who had Chase and Bank of America as lenders were able to speak directly to their lender and other families met with foreclosure counselors from NHS OC, the Legal Aid Society, or Public Law Center. Also, V-NHA kicked off its first event with a special live welcome from Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez.
The second event was held on August 21, 2009 in collaboration with the Orange County Home Ownership Preservation Collaborative (OC HOPC) in the Anaheim Downtown Community Center. This event included an English, Spanish, and Vietnamese session and V-NHA ran the Vietnamese session. At this event, 580 people were in attendance and families were able to meet with lenders and housing counselors to attempt to receive loan modifications.
V-NHA is currently preparing for its next event, a first time homebuyer fair to be held on January 9th, at Coastline Community Center – Le Jao Center in Westminster, California. Lenders, realtors, and escrow, title, and insurance agents will make presentations in Vietnamese to educate attendees about the home buying process and encourage responsible home ownership.
V-NHA plans to continue growing with the goal of educating the Vietnamese community in Orange County about housing and community resources in order to protect the community against scams targeted toward minority populations and to allow the Vietnamese community to make educated home buying decisions.