Audio ACORN: A renegade reputation for helping the poor (story audio) Photos ACORN activism Jordan Ash Deborah White More from MPR Predatory lending: A study in the 'business' of democracy (11/03/2003) Homeowners victimized by foreclosure rescue scam (10/22/2003) Resources ACORN Consumer Federation of America: Protecting yourself from predatory lenders State Attorney General's office: Consumer housing protections Your Voice Join the conversation with other MPR listeners in the News Forum.

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ACORN: A renegade reputation for helping the poor
by Art Hughes, Minnesota Public Radio
September 12, 2004

ACORN helped Denise Brantley in her fight to reclaim her east St. Paul house in 2003, after she was victimized in a predatory lending scam. (MPR file photo)

A conference in St. Paul Monday presents what organizers say are successful ideas to reduce poverty. The ideas range from grants for small business enterprises in New York City to a program in Seattle to help low-income workers buy and maintain cars.

One Twin Cities organization known as ACORN is presenting its methods for winning victories against unscrupulous mortgage lenders. The group's direct intervention has halted foreclosures for dozens of Twin Cities homeowners caught in a downward spiral of borrowing. But ACORN also developed a renegade reputation that has alienated people and organizations that cross its path.

Minneapolis, Minn. — ACORN determinedly seeks out homeowners and others who've fallen prey to undisclosed fine print or loan office sleights of hand. Many are on the verge of losing their homes, or are suffocating under an enormous debt burden.

ACORN chairperson Shada Bouyobe-Hammond says her organization helps level the playing field for what she calls the "grassy grassroots" people. She says poor people have it bad enough.

	Jordan Ash

"I don't need someone devaluing my stock in my 401K or in my savings account, or giving me a product that they know is going to have a balloon payment on it that's going to be devastating to me -- and I'm not going to be able to hold onto my little piece that I've worked hard day in and day out with my little pennies. I don't need to be outsmarted by that kind of thing," says Bouyobe-Hammond.

ACORN stands for Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. It relies on focused research, dogged organizing and quick-draw publicity stunts like picketing the homes of elected officials. The low-budget operation holds steadfast to the mission and methods first established in 1970 in Little Rock, Arkansas -- mixing hands-on, social service-style support with political rabble-rousing. ACORN started by organizing welfare mothers in Arkansas. Now it has chapters in Minnesota and more than 30 other states.

Many members land at ACORN after frustrating tangles with shady loan outfits or discriminatory business practices. ACORN regional director Jordan Ash says the organization turns victims into leaders.

"The only way to change things is by involving the people who are most affected by the policies that are going on. They're the real experts," says Ash.

The group was instrumental in bringing the issue of predatory lending to the Minnesota Legislature and the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul. None of their ideas made it into law. Ash says that's not the only measure of success.

ACORN was very helpful in bringing cases to us, bringing solutions to us -- and being very thoughtful, helpful people to work with. - Jim Bernstein, former state Commerce commissioner

"Legislatively, we would look at it in terms of incremental. If we raise the issue and get more awareness of the problem, there's a value to that," says Ash.

The predatory lending bill died in a House committee, shortly after an out-of-town mortgage industry lobbyist arrived.

None of the organizations contacted for this story would talk on the record about ACORN. But privately, many Twin Cities social service directors and others speak of the organization as an unpredictable and irascible maverick, with a long trail of burned bridges.

One notable exception is former Minnesota Commerce Commissioner Jim Bernstein. The Ventura appointee says his first impressions of ACORN organizers as chanting headline-grabbers were replaced with respect and admiration.

He and State Attorney General Mike Hatch led Minnesota's predatory lending lawsuit against Household Finance. Thirty-five states ultimately split a $484 million settlement from the lawsuit. Bernstein says ACORN's contacts and research were key to the legal action.

"Lending institutions need to obey the laws in Minnesota. If they do there are no problems. But when they break those laws or take advantage of people then they've crossed the line," says Bernstein. "ACORN, we found, was very helpful in bringing cases to us, bringing solutions to us -- and being very thoughtful, helpful people to work with."

	Deborah White

The sweetest victories ACORN staff point to are those in which a homeowner is able to keep the roof over her head.

Deborah White answered an ad in the mail to consolidate debt and lower her monthly mortgage payment. Instead, her payments increased and she was surprised by big insurance and tax payments. She fell behind, and was weeks away from a sheriff's auction of her northeast Minneapolis home.

"It was very stressful. I was at my rope's end," says White. "I went to the county, I went to different other little agencies that I thought could help me. They even told me my situation was hopeless."

White believes a divine force directed an ACORN recruiter to knock on her door. She soon signed over power of attorney to the organization, which was able to stop the foreclosure and negotiate with the lender on her behalf.

"Because ACORN had knowledge, and because I went to them at the precise moment I went to them, they were my out," says White. "They got me $1,500 cash money in my hand within a week."

White remains in her house with a monthly payment one-third what it was at its peak. She now sits on ACORN's board of directors, working to keep others from losing their homes.

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