WADE RATHKE is the founder of ACORN, Chief Organizer at ACORN International, and Author of "Nuts & Bolts", "Citizen Wealth", "Global Grassroots", and "The Battle for the 9th Ward".
New Orleans There’s a big split within the federal banking establishment about what to do about revisions to the 1977 Community Reinvestment Act. This is not your run of the mill, chest thumping, and elbow pushing in Washington over turf and regulatory jurisdiction. It’s actually very important, particularly to low-and-moderate income families and their …
Columbus An analyst for the Federal Reserve Bank in St. Louis on a panel with us at the Benjamin Hooks Institute at the University of Memphis listened to our remarks about the devastating impact of hedge funds and land installment contract companies in Memphis, and asked me if I had seen the study by the …
New Orleans Just maybe there is beginning to be an emerging consensus in the United States, joining many other countries around the world, that there is in fact an affordable housing crisis in the country. Perhaps I should clarify this quickly. Let’s say that among liberals there is a growing agreement when it comes to …
Milwaukee Looking city to city, part of what is driving rents up to record highs and exacerbating the affordable housing crisis is the critical intrusion of large corporate ownership of single-family homes in some markets in addition to larger developments where they have always been a factor. The ACORN Home Savers Campaign has monitored this …
New Orleans During farm crises, as prices get lower for crops and property taxes get higher, the old saying in rural areas about being “land rich, and dirt poor” comes to mind, especially in the states that have property taxes. Talking to a relative about his aging father’s house, he mentioned that his son would …