IN THE SUBPRIME mortgage crisis, most bankers are fleeing from risky homeowners. But banks in southern Chicago are running toward them with open arms. ShoreBank is courting low-income homeowners who are threatened by adjusting their mortgage rates and persuading them to refinance with fixed mortgages. Fixed rate Since September, the bank has closed 26 loans worth $ 4.5 million.

This program is typical of ShoreBank, which is devoted to investing in neighborhoods where many banks do not dare come in. Only in southern Chicago, a little economic tool can invest nearly $ 3 billion, which is, above all, 52,000 affordable housing units, and ShoreBank does it all, while surpassing some of its displays. Today, ShoreBank Corp. operates in five states and is valued at $ 2.1 billion, which is officially recognized as a player.

Daytime community activists and bankers, Ron Grzywinski, Milton Davis, James Fletcher and Mary Hinton, founded ShoreBank in 1973 to react to the civil rights movement and President George. The Big Government Better reason is to give the minority access to finance. While banks often deny loans to minority groups called redlining, the founders’ mindset is based on risk: “If your primary business has a purpose other than making money?” Houghton, president of ShoreBank Corp.

With a $ 2.4 million loan, they bought their own bank on the South Bank, a community full of white flights and city dissolution. Their colleagues think they are crazy. “There is a general bias in dealing with minorities,” said Chicago resident Grzywinski and chairman ShoreBank. “And there is a prejudice that this is a non-governmental role.” The plan to spur small businesses largely failed due to the usual reason: competition. While ShoreBank has developed nearby shopping malls that supply the only supermarkets in the community and supply the net Single family home purchase However, it finds a real niche in the unlikely rental housing.