Raleigh - HomeLife Communities, building affordable dreams for more than 25 years, announced today that they are going to adopt four families who have been evacuated or lost their homes as a result of Hurricane Katrina. HomeLife will provide one of their model homes to a family in each of the four major markets they currently operate. 

Jon Been, President and CEO of HomeLife Communities, decided the best way to help some of the families whose lives were shattered by Katrina was to help them start over.  Been and his senior management team identified four model homes in each of their major markets to be donated for one year to house displaced families in their time of need.

Working with federal, state and local social service organizations and government agencies, four families who have no home to return to in Alabama, Mississippi or Louisiana will be selected to live in HomeLife Communities homes in Atlanta, Charlotte, Raleigh and Phoenix.  The company will absorb the costs of the mortgage, taxes, insurance and utilities for one full year. If the families decide they would like to stay in the new homes, HomeLife will offer the relocated families the opportunity to purchase the home at a reduced price.

“We know that the American Red Cross is temporarily housing more than 140,000 Americans in shelters in 16 states and that there are nearly 250,000 evacuees in Texas alone.  We can only make a small dent in their efforts by housing four families, but perhaps more importantly, I’d like to challenge all of our peers in the industry, and particularly our fellow members in the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) to also adopt a family or two of their own,” said Jon Been, President and CEO of HomeLife Communities.

In addition to providing a home and furnishings (also donated by the company and its employees), HomeLife Communities will offer a job to the head of household of the hosted families in a HomeLife Communities sales center, real estate office or in the construction end of the business as well as present them with a check for $5,000.00 for any other needs they may have.

“A new home, a new job and new friends to welcome you to the neighborhood means a fresh start for at least four families, as well as their relatives,” said Don Mead, Raleigh Division President, HomeLife Communities. “Nationally, there are over 220,000 members of National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), and nearly a third of those are builders.  We are hoping that several thousand of them will follow our lead,”

HomeLife Communities is a leading and award-winning builder of entry-level housing with free- standing homes from the $130,000’s to over $250,000.  More than 7,000 families reside in 65 HomeLife Communities in Arizona, Georgia and the Carolinas.  HomeLife Communities launched a precedent setting “100% Customer Satisfaction Guarantee” including an 18-month home buy-back offer during the summer of 2005. HomeLife Communities is a privately held, family based business headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.

HomeLife’s Raleigh Division will assist the Ballet Family with moving into their new home on Wednesday, September 21, 2005 at 12:00pm in HomeLife’s Idlewood Village Community in Southeast Raleigh. HomeLife will also present the Ballet’s with a check for $5,000.00 to help them with any personal items they may need.  

The Ballet’s have four children, including a 10-month old twin boy and girl.

*****You are invited to attend and meet the Ballet Family****