Foreclosure Prevention Assistance



Homebuyer Education



Housing for Homeless Families

             IMPACT!'s History and Mission

The story of The IMPACT! Group is one of growth and continued service to the community. Our organization was established in 1992 as an informal working group to create and preserve quality affordable housing within Gwinnett County. Incorporated in 1993, the agency received its first funding that year to provide emergency shelter. This program was expanded upon to become The IMPACT! Resource Center, (now the IMPACT! Transitional Housing Program) which helps working families achieve sustainable, quality housing and remain permanently out of homelessness.

 

The IMPACT! HomeOwnership Center was added in 1994 to meet the needs of first-time home buyers and residents in danger of losing their homes to foreclosure; and it shortly thereafter became a HUD-Certified Housing Counseling Agency. In 2003, the HomeOwnership Center became a chartered affiliate of NeighborWorks® America, a nationwide network of non-profit housing agencies. The center helps prevent foreclosures in Gwinnett County and greater Atlanta through group classes and free individual counseling sessions. The center also provides housing counseling, down payment assistance, and financial counseling services to first-time home buyers, current homeowners, and the general public in Gwinnett County and northeast Georgia.

 

As a Community Housing Development Organization (CHDO) in Gwinnett County, The IMPACT! Group has also demonstrated its commitment to serving low and moderate income residents by developing affordable housing units through the IMPACT! Real Estate Division. These include 92 multifamily units in a complex called Castor Village that are affordable to residents earning less than 80 percent of the Area Median Income. Also, the agency has ownership interest in an adjoining 196 unit apartment complex which is today one of the few property-based Section 8 programs remaining in the county. Finally, IMPACT! also has ownership interest in an affordable senior housing complex in Buford, Georgia.

 

Over the last decade, The IMPACT! Group has carefully built a continuum of housing services to help move residents from homelessness to sustainable housing.  Holding true to its mission – to transform lives and strengthen communities by providing quality housing solutions – The IMPACT! Group continues to provide a broad range housing services that include neighborhood revitalization, transitional housing services, permanent housing, housing counseling, homeownership services, real estate development, and asset management. Since the founding of IMPACT!, the organization has steadily increased the number of clients served annually. In 2009, The IMPACT! Group provided direct services to over 5,000 households, thereby assisting over 12,000 people (including children). With the current economic downturn, we are on track to serve a record number of clients in 2010.