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Quick Links Click here to view the HOPZ Brochure. Thinking about helping us? Contact Us |
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You Can Do It! A blueprint to empower other community-based housing advocates across America to do the same things we do. Click to learn more. |
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To view the contents of this web site in sequence, please click the "Next Page" below. | |
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Please don't hesitate to just
pick up the phone and call us. Our number is (732) 530-9601. Jay Wolfkind
(extension 11) is primarily responsible for coordinating our support
partnerships. Nationally: Empower Housing Rehabilitation Our most profound, far-reaching goal is to stimulate and empower hundreds of other community-based organizations across America to do what we do ... turn dilapidated, boarded-up properties into affordable, desirable housing. The first step in achieving this goal is to develop a step-by-step program that others can understand, embrace, and implement. We call this plan, including "best practices", the "Best Practices of Affordable Housing Infill Development". This ambitious project will result in printed and audio-visual materials as comprehensive as a college course on real estate development, finance and zoning law. The more resources available, the more comprehensive it will be, the faster it will be completed, and the more widely we can then promote it. Please click here to learn more about the Best Practices of Affordable Housing Infill Development. We invite your financial, technical, data or service contributions to this effort. Private organizations interested in the potential of causing paradigm-shifting housing and community rehabilitation on a national level are invited to discuss this project with Jay Wolfkind by calling (732) 530-9601, extension 11, or clicking here to send Jay an email. We work primarily on Intel®-based hardware in the Windows® environment. Some of the resources we'll use over the term of this project include workstation-class computer hardware and software, including multi-media authoring and presentation materials, researchers and survey software, software and data sets for GIS mapping and analysis, large relational databases and DBAs, and Visual Basic development. The eventual project configuration is highly dependent on the funding source, and the level of funding. We hope to complete the Grant/Project Proposal by Thanksgiving 2002, have "commitment" funding by February 2003, and have the first phase of the project (information gathering and local testing) complete by Summer 2003. We hope to acquire the resources needed to facilitate and support the evaluation and implementation of these "best practices", by providing free information, counseling, and other support to organizations that seek to adopt some of our "best practices" in their own communities. Locally: Houses & Building Materials "Local" to us is Central New Jersey, roughly south of Route 80 and north of Route 195. On this local level, we practice every day the techniques we (will) teach other housing advocates to use nationally. We look for boarded-up houses that can be saved, we negotiate to acquire them inexpensively, we rehabilitate them cost-effectively, and then make them available to the community as tax-paying properties available as affordable housing rentals. To help fulfill our mission at the Local level, we accept contributions that can include: houses and land, building materials, tools and equipment (either the temporary use of equipment or donations of used equipment and tools), professional services, contractor services, and cash. Donors may designate a specific use of their contribution, and will of course receive a Donation Letter for the fair market value of the donation. If a formal appraisal is required, HOPz will pay for this service. Housing Opportunity Programs, Inc. is primarily concerned with the renovation of existing structures and "infill" development. We focus on the availability of affordable rental housing. We usually don't build new houses. Therefore, if we receive a donation offer of a parcel of vacant land that might be more appropriate for new construction, especially affordable home ownership, we may suggest you consider donating the land to another organization such as The Habitat For Humanity. HOPz has informal referral and cooperation relationships with local New Jersey chapters of the Habitat For Humanity ("HFH"). This does not constitute an endorsement by HFH of HOPz. . Technology Donations: Leverage Your Leftovers Does your company have unused computers and related equipment? Do you sell it to a "Jobber", or worse do you throw it away? Unlike many non-profits, we have the resources to evaluate and restore information technology. We can convert your unused computer equipment into the resources needed to create affordable housing, just as we convert dilapidated properties into affordable, desirable housing. You can direct the disposition of equipment. For example, you can ask that laptop computers be refurbished and donated to hunger-related causes within your area, or that revenue from the sale of your equipment be used only for housing in XYZ City. Making a donation of unused computers and related equipment has many benefits: 1. Provides your business with a tax deduction on the value of donated items. 2. Saves or eliminates costs associated with product storage. 3. Avoids administrative costs associated with selling (and tracking) excess equipment. 4. Recycles items and reduces the amount of waste in local landfills. 5. Requires little effort on the part of the donating business. 6. Helps create more affordable housing. We have technicians who thoroughly delete (Military grade erasure) any data or identifying marks on the equipment, as well as test it for safety and reliability. We replace missing parts and sometimes install donated software licenses. We report back to you with the disposition of every piece of equipment, as well as credit your organization for the donation with labels on the actual product (unless you request otherwise). Shortly we'll have more detailed information about our "IT3R" Program. (Information Technology Recovery, Restoration & Reuse Program). We'll Leverage Your Contribution If your organization is concerned about community development, affordable housing, or other housing-related issues, and you're interested in supporting HOPz on a local or national basis, we'd very much appreciate hearing from you. Let's discuss how HOPz can maximize the benefits of your contribution, and focus it (at your request) on the specific area of your interest. Please click here to go to the "Contact HOPz" Page of this web site. For additional information, please call Jay Wolfkind at (732) 530-9601, extension 11, or click here to send him an email. |
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