Bruce Dorpalen, Director of Housing Counseling, ACORN Housing - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

In 1985, to address the issue of mortgage redlining in low-income and minority neighborhoods, Bruce Dorpalen and a team of ACORN community leaders negotiated a community reinvestment agreement with a Philadelphia bank. This agreement changed the way mortgages were underwritten, recognizing the income, savings, and credit of lower-income borrowers and eliminating barriers to qualifying for a mortgage. Dorpalen has built the program into a national housing counseling program with a staff of 120 counselors operating in 40 communities across the country. Over the past 20 years, ACORN Housing has helped 60,000 households obtain mortgages. The program has branched out to help increase low-income people’s access to homeowner’s insurance, mortgage refinancing, and home equity loans. New programs are being developed to address unfairly priced, high-cost loans sold in minority and lower-income communities. ACORN Housing is also working with lenders to develop lower-cost products that help people build wealth in their homes.

Bruce Dorpalen
ACORN Housing
846 N. Broad St., 2nd floor
Philadelphia, PA 19130
Phone: 215-765-0048
Fax: 215-765-1299
Email: ahclcdirect@acorn.org
Web: www.acornhousing.org