Group Helps Prevent Fort Lauderdale Foreclosure Homes for Sale

If you ask some homeowners, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now or ACORN as it is popularly known, has helped many of them save their properties from Fort Lauderdale foreclosure homes for sale.

Some residents in Fort Lauderdale and Pompano Beach said that ACORN has done a good job in providing assistance to disenfranchised and poor people. They praised the organization’s political advocacy and assistance on behalf of people in the communities it serves.

But others are not as grateful, calling ACORN a radical leftist organization that is out to destroy the way of life in the country. They believed that the organization is a scourge that should be eliminated.

Whatever the critics and supporters believe, it could never be denied that ACORN has reached a level of recognition it has never achieved in its 40-year of existence.

In Florida, the organization is manned by volunteers and six paid staff, a decline from 14 at the start of this year. The economic downturn has affected the organization in terms of financial support. The organization offers various services, including counseling to help distressed homeowners avoid foreclosure homes for sale in Fort Lauderdale and helping former prisoners to apply for the restoration of their civil rights.

Additionally, the organization helps people lessen their medical debt, navigate applications for government benefits and file for income tax credit.

The organization has a national budget of $25 million, with 10 percent taken from government grants. Nationwide, ACORN has 400 employees.

In Florida, ACORN’s budget for 2009 is $500,000, with no contribution from state or county. The organization was embroiled in a controversy following an investigation conducted by undercover conservative activists who posed as a pimp and prostitute. Video recordings showed that ACORN workers were giving undercover activists advice on how to evade tax laws.

The result of the undercover investigation prompted the Congress to stop providing federal funds to the organization.

The federal grant amounting to $125,000 has helped ACORN provide public housing assistance, including training on credit management and home ownership.

Meanwhile, Senator Chris Smith said that in Palm Beach and Broward counties, ACORN has been operating on the grassroots level. Volunteers of the group show up during community cleanups and meetings, feeding for the homeless and several protests.