Who We Are
Mission First Housing Group is a family of 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations working together to ensure everyone has a safe, affordable place to call home.

Our Vision
Mission First Housing Group envisions communities where everyone can live independently in affordable, safe and sustainable homes with access to resources and opportunities in their community.
Mission Statement
Mission First Housing Group’s mission is to develop and manage affordable, safe and sustainable homes for people in need, with a focus on the vulnerable. We ensure our residents have access to resources to help them live independently. We deliver housing that provides long-term benefits to residents and neighborhoods, alike.

Core Values
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Fairness
We believe that everyone deserves to live in a safe, affordable, sustainable home.
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Collaboration
We believe that by working together, we can help more people.
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Stewardship
We believe it’s our responsibility to carefully steward the resources entrusted to us by our funders and partners on behalf of our residents.
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Leadership
We strive to be a leader in the field of affordable housing.
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Accountability
We expect to be held accountable by many people: our residents, Board of Directors, employees, partners, funders and vendors.
Brief History
What began 25 years ago as a joint venture between the City of Philadelphia, HUD and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has become a full-service, nonprofit affordable housing organization developing high-quality, green community assets across the Mid-Atlantic region. Mission First’s original purpose was to provide for the housing needs of adults living with chronic mental illness. In June 1989, Mission First acquired its first property – a South Philadelphia duplex. Our first resident moved in to an apartment there October 1, 1989 and lived there for 22 years.
Over the course of our history, Mission First employed a number of key strategies and innovative practices to support its expansion, including incorporating an affiliated nonprofit entity to lease, manage and maintain its properties and coordinate resident services; leveraging funding to acquire property; assembling complex financing sources; and developing a successful model for utilizing mergers, acquisitions and friendly take-overs to help stabilize troubled affordable housing projects and expand its portfolio.
Having developed a successful model for providing safe, quality, affordable housing for a particularly vulnerable population, Mission First sought to expand its model to new geographies and serve others in need. Mission First’s footprint is now the entire Mid-Atlantic region and it now serves a diverse resident population that includes families, veterans, survivors of domestic violence,seniors and individuals with disabilities.
Today Mission First provides safe, affordable, sustainable homes to more than 5,500 people in over 3,800 units.
Mission First’s family of organizations:
1260 Housing Development Corporation
Mission First Housing Development Corporation
Making It Possible to End Homelessness

Mission First Senior Staff
- Alfredo de la Peña Chief Executive Officer
- Robert H. Kwait, Esq. Corporate Counsel
- Cecilia Loose, CPA Chief Financial Officer
- Chip Darling Chief Operating Officer
- Sarah Constant Senior Vice President, Real Estate Development
- Mark Deitcher Senior Vice President, Business Strategy
- Sue McPhedran Director of Development, Philadelphia region
- Elizabeth Askew Everhart Senior Development Manager (DC/MD/VA)
- Christopher L. Everett Development Manager (DC/MD/VA)
- Moira Rooney Director of Philanthropy & Communication
- Jessica S. Moore, HDFP® Director of Asset Management
- Heidi Bohn Director of Property Management (District 1)
- John Bohn District Manager, Facilities (PA/NJ/DE)
- Lisa A. DiBenedetto Director of Risk Management
- Susan McMichael Director of Compliance
Board of Directors
- Harry G. "Skip" Dittmann, Chair Retired,
- Gina C. Muldrow, Vice Chair Administrator, Society For Helping Church and Society For Helping, Inc
- Mark Duffy, Treasurer Senior Vice President, Firstrust Bank
- Michael Davidson, Esq., Secretary Partner, Turner Law PC
- Russell Johnson Chief Executive Officer, HealthSpark Foundation
- Jim Kilcoyne Veteran, Volunteer, Philadelphia Veteran’s Administration Medical Center
- Joel S. Lawson III Private Investor,
- Michael B. Simmons, CPM®, NAHP-e® President & Chief Executive Officer, Community Realty Management
- Mary B. Walker Director of Talent Management and Acquisition, PECO
- Marva Williams Independent Consultant and Adjunct Lecturer, University of Pennsylvania and Rutgers University