Monday, September 26, 2005

ACORN: Katrina Mortgage Relief Unfairly Denied to Many Homeowners

ACORN, or the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, lost their headquarter offices in New Orleans to Katrina. Now they are busy organizing NOLA evacuees to help them retain their rights to remain in New Orleans. A big part of that struggle is bound to be guarding against those who will attempt to grab land from poor property owners.

In this new release, Katrina Mortgage Relief Unfairly Denied to Many Homeowners they take up that struggle:

tens of thousands of homeowners who were displaced by Hurricane Katrina are not being offered the mortgage relief that has been highly publicized in recent weeks, and as a result could face foreclosure by the end of the year.[...]

'The communities that suffered the most from Katrina and the ineffective government response are now receiving inferior and disparate treatment from our nation's financial system,' said ACORN President Maude Hurd. 'Equal treatment and a chance to get back on their feet is not too much to ask for the homeowners in our communities. Those that have more expensive loans to start with should certainly get the same consideration as other borrowers."

Keep your eye on this one. This issue will not be a sexy, media-genic one with attention grabbing headlines and heart rending photos. This will be a quiet battle for ownership of the new New Orleans.

1 comment:

Eric Mar said...

I think ACORN is a great example of an organization that has used the Saul Alinski 'rules' for organizing and modified them based on the unique conditions in each region/neighborhood/school that they have been organizing in.
Bravo to them for always building power for those who have none and for working to 'democratize' our communities.