Homes of Hope, Inc.
Homes of Hope, Inc. is a 34 year old non-profit which was started by Kent R. Pipes and a few of the members of the First Presbyterian Church of Mt. Holly in 1981 to address the needs of property deterioration around the church property and the growing problem of housing unaffordability. After serving as the Director for the first two years, completing the first 3 unit rehabilitation projects and getting the organization off to a strong start, Kent resigned to focus energies on developing a senior citizens housing facility at the recently closed Samuel Miller School through the auspices of the Mt. Holly Christian Retirement Center, Inc. Homes of Hope continued to operate under the direction of Wes Kennedy and grew during the next 10 years to comprise 21 housing units in Eastampton, Mt. Holly and Roebling. After falling into a period of mismanagement the housing units were in disrepair and the organization n debt. In September 2005, The Affordable Homes Group agreed to take over the units and the Board of Home of Hope elected the Board members of the AHG to be on their Board, then the former Board of Homes of Hope resigned, thus transferring control over to AHG. AHG has invested almost $150,000 in labor, materials to make improvements to the properties, paying off outstanding contracts and payment of outstanding debts within the first 36 months.