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Non-Profit Provider of Affordable Single-Family Homes for First-time Homebuyers
in Moderate and Low-Income Neighborhoods
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ACORN HOUSING CORPORATIONThe Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now established the ACORN Housing Corporation (AHC) in 1986 to build and preserve housing assets. Since its inception, AHC has assisted over 45,000 families to become first time homeowners, and has rehabilitated over 850 vacant and abandoned housing units. Virtually all of ACORN Housing's work takes place in areas that have been seriously disinvested and forgotten. AHC works in low and very low-income neighborhoods where over 90% of the residents are African-Americans, Mexican-Americans, and/or recent immigrants from Central America or the West Indies. This includes communities such as Flatbush and East New York in Brooklyn; Englewood and North Lawndale in Chicago; and the communities south of the Salt River in Phoenix. 
These are the urban tinderboxes often overlooked by the most highly touted
and most widely known urban revitalization programs. It is in these hidden
pockets of poverty that AHC has set about the task of reconstruction and
authentic renewal.
ACORN Housing has long realized that securing lending commitments from banks will not in itself overcome the legacy of disinvestment and racially discriminatory lending practices. Product innovations, community outreach, pre-purchase counseling, and delinquency counseling are all essential components of an effective program. Without these features, community apprehension towards the lending process and mistrust towards the lender can combine with lender inexperience with minority communities to derail the most sincere commitment. The critical need for converting lending commitments into sound loans led ACORN Housing to establish its home ownership and credit counseling programs. Unlike most TA providers and financial intermediaries who just offer advice from the sidelines, AHC rolls up its sleeves and dirties its hands on the front lines of direct service delivery. The home ownership and counseling program has grown to 29 cities. ACORN Housing now provides mortgage counseling to more individuals than any other organization in the country. In 2002, AHC is on a pace to counsel over 50,000 families and create 7000 new homeowners. 
In recent years ACORN Housing has increasingly helped homeowners to escape the jaws of predatory lenders. These modern-day loan sharks often deceive homeowners into accepting mortgage loans bearing much higher rates and fees than the homeowner qualifies for, robbing the homeowner of hard-earned equity. We help homeowners to determine what kind of loan is best for them, and then through our lending partnerships with both prime and subprime lenders, we make sure that they get the best loan package that they qualify for. |
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