HOPE partnered with Gateway Community Development Corporation in Yazoo City, Mississippi, to support 40 families in moving from renting to homeownership.

The families were participants in a lease-to-own agreement that would allow them to become homeowners in the Roberts Estates subdivision. Roberts Estates was developed by Gateway Community Development Corporation, a nonprofit, mission-minded organization focused on providing affordable housing. Participants in the program would rent their homes for 15 years. At the end of that time, they would have an opportunity to buy the home at an affordable price well below market value.

The homes were part of a federal affordable housing program managed by the states that offered developers tax credits to construct single-family homes for residents who met income requirements. In states like Mississippi and Louisiana, higher scores on tax credit applications served as an incentive for developers to include the homeownership provision.

At Roberts Estates, as the 15-year compliance period neared its end and residents prepared to purchase their homes, obstacles arose that threatened to derail the sales. The agreed-upon purchase price per home was $15,000, an amount so low that mainstream mortgage companies would not underwrite the purchases. And because each home would be sold far under its appraised value, Gateway would not recoup enough from the sale of each home to pay off the original lender that financed the development.

Determined to see these families realize their dream of homeownership, Gateway CEO Sabrina Billings reached out to HOPE.
HOPE used a $3 million grant from HUD, supported by Congressman Thompson, to purchase the entire Roberts Estates development. As the owner, seller, and lender, HOPE layered multiple grants and loans to make the financing work. Tenants purchased their homes at an out-of-pocket cost of $15,000, and when the program concludes, Gateway will ultimately break even on the permanent debt.

The purchase will take the new homeowners from $0 in equity to approximately $155,000 in equity upon closing. Of the 40 homes in Roberts Estates, 38 are occupied by the original residents; the remaining two are occupied by the descendants of original residents. More than individual home sales, Roberts Estates represents the stabilization of an entire community.

“We’re learning that this lease-to-own program sounds great in theory, but it can be hard to execute,” says Jena Reed, HOPE vice president of community and economic development. “What we’re doing with Roberts Estates is setting a precedent for what this work can look like in practice all over the country.”

The success of the project earned Gateway CEO Alpresteon “Sabrina” Billings the NeighborWorks America’s 2025 Dorothy Richard Award for Resident Leadership, the highest honor in the NeighborWorks Network.

“My desire to become a developer came from looking at the dynamics here in Yazoo County and seeing that homeownership was just so out of reach for so many people,” Billings says. “We’re creating generational wealth through this project. We have people in Roberts Estates who have never before seen homeownership in their families. Now they have something they can leave to their children and grandchildren. This is transformational.”

Gateway is already at work developing Roberts Estates Phase 2, which will include 30 more single-family homes offered under the same lease-to-own plan.

“We’re going to work with HOPE as our partner every step of the way,” Billings says. “When I placed that phone call to HOPE, they listened. They created a product that not only helped my families here in Yazoo, but that will help other families across the South, because they recognized the need to have a product that will meet these families where they are. I’m so very grateful to HOPE for listening to what we needed and creating a product that
actually works.”