Martin Shalloo

ACORN Housing Corporation (AHC) Development Director, Phoenix and National; Project Director and Director of Finance and Reporting, Helen Miller SEIU Member Education & Training Center (independent non-profit started by SEIU HCIIMK*), 2013 on *HCIIMK was a new Local organized in 2008 and composed of the ACORN affiliate organization SEIU Local 880’s 70,000 homecare and childcare members, SEIU Local 4’s 10,000 nursing home members, and SEIU Local 20’s 7,000 hospital and clinic workers.

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In this interview, Martin Shalloo speaks about his time working for ACORN Housing. First, in Arizona, where they tried to address discriminaition in the mortage indsutry through what was basically a lease-to-own program––with the idea that they could build a track record for people and help them to purchase their houses in the long run. He describes how the program worked and who it served, and also the challenges of developing the program as they ran it. He talks about leaving Phoenix in 1993 and moving first to Philly and then to Chicago. He then worked on housing projects around the country, which was less hands-on and more working with local directors, hiring local directors, working with them to put projects together, and also looking for new hosuing opportunities. He describes a housing project in Houston around 2007/2008 where they developed a brand new affordable subdivision from scratch. He ends talking about his work in New Orleans after Hurriciane Katrina.