[COMM-ORG] ACORN and foreclosure movement

Wed Jun 17 09:07:16 CDT 2009

From:     Steven Kest, ACORN <ekoidin at acornmail.net>

I'm happy to share with you the results of our big press event last Thursday that marks a new phase of our ongoing campaign to help families and communities suffering in the foreclosure crisis.  ACORN CEO Bertha Lewis joined America's leading mayors in calling for nationwide expansion of our highly successful Philadelphia Model of foreclosure prevention through mandatory mediation. http://www.acorn.org/index.php?id=12439&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=22562&tx_ttnews[backPid]=12346&cHash=83420343dc

Begun a year ago after a grassroots organizing campaign by Philadelphia ACORN, 78% of participating homeowners are today still in their homes because their lenders were forced to meet with them face-to-face before foreclosing.  Read more about the ACORN Philadelphia Model in our report, "Road to Rescue: How the Philadelphia Model Can Reduce Foreclosures Across the Country" at the front page of www.acorn.org. http://www.acorn.org/index.php?id=12439&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=22555&tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=12387&cHash=6d31cf9e28
http://www.acorn.org

We were pleased to be joined by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Miami Mayor Manny Diaz, St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay, and representatives from the Oakland and Boston mayors' offices.  One by one, these mayors, many of whom joined ACORN in seeking to prevent the predatory lending that caused the financial crisis, recounted the devastation their cities are experiencing because of the record pace of foreclosures: families facing untold hardships, shrinking tax bases and revenues, and neighborhoods torn asunder by rampant crime and blight.  Mayors did not cause this crisis, but they're stuck cleaning up Wall Street's mess.

Thankfully there is a solution, endorsed by all of these mayors and ACORN - foreclosure prevention through mandatory mediation. Mayors praised ACORN's housing counseling operations and outreach capacity, and pledged to work with ACORN in pushing local, state, and national solutions to the foreclosure crisis, including federal funding for local mandatory mediation programs to get off the ground and running as successfully as Philadelphia's.  Here's some of what was reported about this event:

The Politico - Under the headline, "Mayors Laud ACORN Anti-Foreclosure Efforts", Politico writes:

    "Nonetheless, many big-city mayors are now looking to Acorn -- which has been organizing tenants, counseling homeowners and monitoring conditions in low-income neighborhoods for decades -- for help in cutting their rising foreclosures rates.  The banks' success in killing the bankruptcy modification "cramdown" bill in Congress has prompted New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and the US Conference of Mayors to call for expansion of programs like an Acorn pilot in Philadelphia that mediates mortgage renegotiations between distressed homeowners and lenders." http://www.politico.com/blogs/glennthrush/0609/Mayors_laud_Acorn_antiforeclosure_plan_.html

Reuters -

    "Many local governments are turning to the Philadelphia model," Bertha Lewis, chief executive of Acorn, a national community organization that has been active in trying to curb foreclosures, told reporters during a conference organized by the U.S. Conference of Mayors....Cities also hope to emulate Philadelphia's outreach efforts in which officials go door-to-door informing homeowners faced with foreclosure that they may be able to save their homes through the program. http://www.reuters.com/article/companyNewsAndPR/idUSN1152287520090611

Philadelphia Inquirer -

    Jean Ruffin, 75, was a Philadelphia homeowner who benefited. When her lender filed in 2008 to foreclose on her mortgage, the court gave Ruffin's address to ACORN, which sent a representative to Ruffin's door and explained her options. A volunteer lawyer argued on Ruffin's behalf.  "They had me telling my story," said Ruffin, who kept her home. http://www.philly.com/inquirer/business/20090612_Other_cities_seek_Nutter_s_counsel_on_mortgage_program.html

Here's some additional coverage:
http://www.mortgageorb.com/e107_plugins/content/content.php?content.3689
http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/18042/
http://newyork.realestaterama.com/2009/06/11/mayor-bloomberg-announces-public-campaign-to-help-more-new-yorkers-get-free-foreclosure-prevention-services-ID0692.html
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-06/12/content_11531543.htm
http://www.abc2news.com/content/gmm/story/Conference-of-Mayors-Kicks-Off/gzMu8YkBtECF3Xnzka1_NA.cspx
http://www.philly.com/dailynews/local/20090612_N_Y__loves_our_mortgage-saving_program.html
http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/cityhall/47858037.html
http://www.nydailynews.com/money/2009/06/12/2009-06-12_city_can_help_you_keep_yer_home__mike.html

We were also pleased that when a reporter asked about last fall's partisan attacks over voter registration, the mayors stood strong by our side.  "We are proud of our great relationship with ACORN in St. Louis working to keep families in their homes, they are a great partner," said Mayor Slay.  Unprompted, Mayor Nutter and New York Housing Commissioner Rafael E. Cestero chimed in with agreement in praise of ACORN's work. 

This is the real story on the ground: Michelle Bachman and Michael Steele and Rush Limbaugh can't stop us or distract us in our fight to improve the lives of low- and moderate-income Americans.

ACORN has been successful in spreading mandatory mediation in some parts of the country, but with the Senate's failure to protect homeowners through bankruptcy reform, there is an urgent need for a nationalized effort to create effective local complements to the Obama program in order to stave off millions of foreclosures and turn our economy around. 

We are up to the task and fighting hard every day, but this important work would not be possible without our friends and supporters like you and these great mayors.

Thank you for all you do-

Steve Kest
ACORN Executive Director

*****
ACORN is the nation's largest community organization of low- and moderate-income families, with over 400,000 member families organized into neighborhood chapters in 100 cities across the country. Since 1970 ACORN has taken action and won victories on issues of concern to our members. Our priorities include: better housing for first time homebuyers and tenants, living wages for low-wage workers, more investment in our communities from banks and governments, and better public schools. ACORN is an acronym, and each letter should be capitalized. ACORN stands for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now.

If you no longer wish to receive updates from ACORN, click here to be removed from the list: 
http://salsa.wiredforchange.com/o/2749/unsubscribe.jsp?Email=rstoecker@wisc.edu&email_blast_KEY=49671&organization_KEY=2749

-- 
Randy Stoecker

Professor
e-mail:  rstoecker at wisc.edu

Department of Rural Sociology
350 Agricultural Hall
1450 Linden Drive
Madison, Wisconsin
53706

Tel: (608) 890-0764
Fax: (608) 262-6022 

Center for Community and Economic Development
610 Langdon Street
3rd Floor
Madison, WI 53703

Phone: (608) 265-8256
Fax: (608) 263-4999