18 July 08 - 16:01HUD and banks backing ACORN ?
I discovered some more instances of ACORN working in the Housing market. Now it seems they get HUD money and approval.ACORN Housing Corportation
ACORN Housing Corporation launches non-profit mortgage brokerage
ACORN Housing Corporation launches non-profit mortgage brokerage with CitiMortgage, Bank of America, First American Title Insurance Company, and Fannie Mae to help low- and moderate-income families find safe, affordable mortgages in Florida
ACORN Housing and CitiMortgage, Bank of America, First American Title Insurance Company, and Fannie Mae announced today the launching of a new non-profit mortgage brokerage called Acorn Housing Affordable Loans, LLC, to help qualified borrowers enjoy the benefits of homeownership throughout Florida. Additional offices will be launched in other states in the coming months. The new mortgage brokerage will also help homeowners faced with resetting adjustable rates that may make their current home mortgage payments unaffordable.
Central to this new initiative are the participating lenders commitment to make their fixed price and affordable mortgage products available as one of the options for borrowers working with ACORN Housing in its target cities. Key features of the fixed-rate mortgage products being offered include:
Low downpayments
Flexible credit guidelines and income requirements including the use of non-traditional income
Competitive rates
Low fees
Trained counselors will provide borrowers with free pre-purchase homebuyer education counseling and at anytime throughout the life of the loan if some unforeseen event occurs that prevents them from meeting their mortgage obligations.
This new initiative furthers Acorn Housing's mission to provide homeownership opportunities for all prospective homeowners by providing a network of mortgage brokers to provide borrowers with a mortgage loan suited to their individual circumstances and requirements. For further information visit our website at http://www.acornloans.org or call 1-877-631-2267.
The launching of this new mortgage brokerage is just the latest initiative by ACORN Housing to serve low and moderate-income families across the United States. Since its formation in 1986, they have counseled more than 250,000 people and helped more than 80,000 people own a home. Most recently, through its HELP hotline at 1-888-409-3557, it has been able to help more than 4,000 families avoid foreclosure and save their homes by working with more than 46 servicers.
"A key objective of ACORN Housing Affordable Loans, LLC is to expand housing opportunities," said Alton Bennett, President of ACORN Housing Corporation and the new mortgage brokerage. "This new initiative meets that objective through a focused commitment to provide low and moderate-income individuals with comprehensive advice and information that they can trust, and makes sure that they are fully informed about every aspect of this most important financial transaction. We want to help families begin building wealth today. We are very pleased with the level of commitment that CitiMortgage, First American and Fannie Mae are contributing to this effort."
"Bank of America is proud to participate in the launch of ACORN's mortgage brokerage," said Glenda Gabriel, Bank of America Neighborhood Lending Executive. "Working with ACORN, this valuable partnership will make Bank of America's suite of safe and affordable mortgage products more accessible to first-time homebuyers interested in achieving the American dream of home ownership."
"Over the last 12 months, we have worked diligently together to get ACORN established as a broker, provided training and support as they set up their broker operations and strategy. The launch today is a culmination of these efforts. We are proud to announce this alliance with Acorn Housing Corporation," said Danny Gardner, National Director of Strategic Markets for CitiMortgage. "In the current climate, we feel the mortgage products we are offering through this relationship will not only help first-time homebuyers looking for a home but also may help those faced with rising mortgage payments."
"First American Title has been a committed partner in the industry in serving low-to-moderate income and multicultural families in achieving the American dream of homeownership. We are happy to take another step forward with this partnership with ACORN Housing Corporation, " said Lionel Savage, Vice President for Lender Services and Industry Relations, First American Title Insurance Company. "First American Strategic Markets is fully equipped with assisting in this partnership with our multicultural escrow and closing services and tools that directly address the need for education about the homebuying process amongst the multicultural community."
"Fannie Mae is proud to work with ACORN Housing, " said Thomas Collins, Director, Single Family Business, and Fannie Mae. By working with ACORN and lenders like Citibank, we can support their efforts to expand homeownership opportunities for underserved communities at affordable price points achieve sustainable homeownership."
"Many Floridians in our circumstances are looking for a safe, affordable and good quality home and we feel very fortunate to have the opportunity to work with Acorn Housing Affordable Loans," said Carlos Negron and his wife, Irlene Hernandez, Miami residents who are seeking to qualify for their first home through this initiative. "This is extremely exciting. We are looking forward to moving into our new home."
"On behalf of all of the participants, we are excited to get started on moving ahead with this project, said Mike Shea, Executive Director of ACORN Housing Corporation. We appreciate the opportunity to be able to serve citizens in Miami and other communities in Florida. Acorn Housing can help put Floridians in a safe, fixed rate mortgage that they can afford. We will be there for them throughout the process."
About Acorn Housing Corporation
ACORN Housing (AHC) is the largest nonprofit (c) (3) housing counseling organization in the nation, providing one-on-one mortgage loan counseling, first-time homebuyer classes, post closure and loss mitigation services, and financial counseling for families. Since its inception, AHC has provided free, high-quality counseling services to 250,000 households across the country, more than 80,000 of which have become homeowners, generating more than $10 billion in mortgages. AHC has 39 affiliate offices located throughout the United States, with 130 full-time employees. AHC has also developed over 1,500 units of affordable single family and rental housing over the years, including more than 250 owner-occupied single-family homes, and 460 ownership units in small multi-family buildings in various cities around the United States. To date, AHC projects have leveraged over $100 million in affordable housing financing and subsidies. Additional information about Acorn Housing can be found at:
http://www.acornhousing.org/.
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And even NYC is in on backing ACORN
NYC Gov Office
NY ACORN HOUSING COMPANY ACQUIRES HUD FORECLOSED BUILDINGS AND SECURES LOW INCOME HOUSING
HUD, NYC and ACORN Partnership Saves Homes of 111 Low-Income Families. New Model to Protect Much Needed Housing Stock - and to Upgrade Buildings and Homes
(Brooklyn, NY) - January 4, 2005 - One hundred and eleven low-income families in four East Harlem buildings had a huge win when HUD foreclosed on the prior owner and then worked with the community group ACORN, and it's development arm the New York ACORN Housing Company, and HPD to insure that the buildings would be renovated for permanent affordable housing.
The struggle for the tenants of 424-436 East 117th, 444-448 East 117th, 222-228 East 119th and 234-236 East 119th Streets has been a long one. For four years ACORN members in the buildings led a fight to preserve this invaluable affordable housing resource. HUD and ACORN knew that the landlord's disregard for maintaining and providing even basic services for the buildings and its occupants had to be addressed. The tenants organized with ACORN and successfully worked with HUD to begin foreclosure action against this prior landlord. In spite of the fact that residents had lived in buildings with no heat, bad elevators and hundreds of other repair and safety issues in the buildings, HUD and ACORN worked to get significant repairs made and to stabilize the day-to-day management as the buildings wound their way through bankruptcy court.
"Preserving buildings for another generation of New Yorkers is at the heart of Mayor Bloomberg's housing plan," said Commissioner of the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development Shaun Donovan. "It is precedent-setting for the City's housing agency to work with the federal government and a not-for-profit in this way to both ensure necessary rehabilitation work for the buildings and plan for permanent affordability for low-income residents. It's a win for the tenants and a win for the City."
HUD, following their statutory procedures put a bid package out for the property in October 2004. Hundreds of private investors and developers visited the site and many showed up at the auction held at State Supreme Court in Manhattan on December 14th.
HUD bid in the value of their mortgage and the value of repairs that they had done on the property. Their $17 million bid turned out to be the winning bid. The building were ultimately transferred to the not for profit New York ACORN Housing Company. The buildings, which include 111 units of low income housing, will now be rehabilitated. The residents will participate and be involved. The low income affordability that HUD requires, that the City works for and that is the tenet of ACORN and it's housing work will be assured into the indefinite future.
Tenants were pleased that their organizing paid off. "I'm very happy that we were able to stay in our apartments and keep them affordable," said Carlos Abea, a long-time tenant and member of ACORN. "We fought hard, and now we can concentrate on improving conditions in our building and our neighborhood." No comments No trackbacks
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