D.C. Acorn Housing Office Still Open–For Now

Well, I guess this should come as no surprise. Beleaguered by scandal, Acorn Housing Corporation is laying off some 240 workers, and is determining which offices will close in the coming days, according to Acorn Housing spokesperson Alyson Chadwick. An office in El Paso Texas has already closed, according to the El Paso Times.

Thus far, no one in the Washington D.C. office has been let go—that is unless you count two people filmed in part of the scandalous video which led to Acorn’s woes. They were fired in September, says Chadwick.

Acorn Housing advises homeowners on how to avoid foreclosure, and it also assists first-time buyers in navigating the home loan/home search process.

The organization is contemplating changing its name and possibly charging fees to people it advises or their lenders, according to the Wall Street Journal. Earlier this year, Congress, which provided 75 percent of Acorn’s funding, cut off contributions to the group, at least temporarily. One would think, that this drop would signal the end for Acorn. But not so fast:

[Michael Shea, executive director of Acorn Housing] declines to say how much cash Acorn Housing holds but says he believes it can cut expenses enough to survive on a smaller scale until it can regain federal funding or find other sources of income. He says he is confident that an investigation being conducted by the inspector general of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, or HUD, will show that Acorn Housing hasn’t misused federal funds.

Acorn did stop doing intakes of new clients around October 1 though, according to Chadwick.

Tags: Acorn Housing, Congress, Michael Shea