ACORN Foresaw the Foreclosure Crisis in 2001

The grassroots group helped Oakland pass a tough anti-predatory lending law that would have halted the housing crisis before it started. Then subprime lenders started making campaign contributions in Sacramento.

By Robert Gammon

September 29, 2009

The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now has been a favorite whipping boy of Fox News for a long time. And it's no secret that the right-wing attacks have worked. A few weeks ago, Congress voted to defund the group after a pair of young Republican operatives went undercover and caught ACORN workers engaged in fraud. And although the group immediately fired the workers, Democrats have sought to distance themselves ever since. But before they completely turn their backs on ACORN, they should remember that while the group has made mistakes over the years, it also was way out in front of the foreclosure crisis. In fact, if politicians had listened, the global financial meltdown might never have happened.

Back in the late 1990s, ACORN was acutely aware of the grave dangers posed by subprime mortgage lending because of the group's close work with low-income property owners. ACORN officials were witnessing first-hand how unscrupulous lenders were enticing people to buy homes they couldn't afford and advising long-time homeowners to strip out all of the equity in their homes. The group then saw those very same people lose everything when their subprime mortgages kicked in and low-income neighborhoods were devastated.