I was looking for a mainstream article to back up your comment. I have not found one yet. This is interesting though.
Posted June 2008.
An Untrustworthy Housing Fund — Housing bill has likely ACORN slush Fund http://www.openmarket.org/2008/06/16/an-untrustworthy-housing-fund-housing-bill-has-likely-acorn-slush-fund/
An Untrustworthy Housing Fund — Housing bill has likely ACORN slush Fund http://www.openmarket.org/2008/06/16/an-untrustworthy-housing-fund-housing-bill-has-likely-acorn-slush-fund/
Excerpt....
And ACORN has also been sanctioned specifically for misuse of federal housing funds. In 1994, the ACORN Housing Corporation (AHC) received a grant from the newly created Americorps to assist low-income families at finding housing. In applying for the grant, the AHC claimed its activities were completley separate from ACORN.
But one year later, the Americorps Inspector General would testify that “AHC used Americorps grant funds to benefit ACORN either directly or indirectly.” She found several instances of cost-shifting from ACORN’s lobbying group to the housing entity, and also found several instances of steering recipients of housing counseling into ACORN memberships. (This report by the Employment Policies Institute contains the Inspector General’s testimony in full.)