Angel Housing Solutions’ first client and her children play in the yard on June 30. AHS provided the Warminster home to a single mom enrolled in the Bucks County Opportunity Council’s Economic Self-Sufficiency Program. — David Garrett
View the article in the Bucks County Herald here.
Editor’s Note: This is the third in a monthly “Heralding Our Nonprofits” series that highlights the work being done by local nonprofit organizations and profiles the people who make them go. This project is funded through a grant from Foundations Community Partnership.
Without stable housing, a path out of poverty can be insurmountable. Time and again, studies find that affordable housing is a critical first step in changing the course of one’s life.
That understanding, coupled with the vision of the late Carol A. Baumhauer and the vital inspiration and support of her husband Joe Baumhauer, Kathleen Beveridge and Sophia Wisniewska, founded Angel Housing Solutions in 2022.
“Carol A. Baumhauer is the angel in Angel Housing Solutions. In her lifetime, she was a presence and a force for good in her community,” said the nonprofit’s directors on its website — angelhousingsolutions.org. Her legacy of education, volunteerism and passionate advocacy for women is at the heart of AHS’s ambitious, highly focused mission, said Beveridge, president of Spark Nonprofit Consulting and an AHS board member.
“Increasing access to affordable rental housing is the most effective strategy for reducing childhood poverty and increasing economic mobility in the United States,” explained Beveridge and Wisniewska. It’s Angel Housing’s intention to provide such an avenue and lift one Bucks County family at a time out of the too often intractable cycle of poverty.
With 20% of the county’s 14,587 households in poverty headed by single women, according to the nonprofit, Angel Housing, in partnership with the Bucks County Opportunity Council and Woodside Church in Yardley, is turning its attention to that vulnerable population.
Its model works like this: AHS will purchase a duplex or other types of housing and provide one apartment to a single mother in BCOC’s Economic Self Sufficiency Program for free or a minimal rent. The remaining units are rented at market rate, explained Beveridge, helping subsidize the small rent paid by AHS’s tenant.
The initial minimal or free rent increases incrementally, as the tenant’s finances grow more stable, something secure housing makes a far greater possibility, noted Wisniewska.
The nonprofit recently purchased its first property in Warminster. It was already fully rented when AHS bought it. When one unit became available, a 22-year-old mother and her two small children were selected by the Opportunity Council to move in. The woman’s identity is being protected for the sake of her privacy.
“It was definitely a big sigh of relief,” said the young mother, when she learned of the apartment, not far from the kids’ sets of grandparents.
The two-bedroom apartment is intentionally near a bus line, with walkable stores, said Beveridge. Before moving in, it was deep-cleaned and painted. Each unit has its own laundry facilities and a yard.
“For once, my kids have a stable home,” said the mom, during an interview.
When they moved in and she told her four-year-old son this was now their new house. “He said, ‘So we don’t have to move anymore.’ I was so happy,” his mother said, a wave of emotion in her voice.
To understand the life-changing impact of Angel Housing for its first family, it’s important to know that this single mother of two was once a foster child. She was adopted when she was nine.
“What I always wanted for myself, now I have for my children,” she explained.
Without the stress of continually moving, the mother is now focusing on the future and said she plans to attend a nail technician school and open her own salon. She’s currently working as a social media manager.
Woodside Church in Yardley recently joined AHS as a partner, giving $75,000 to the organization. A longtime supporter of many projects helping those in need, the church’s Pastor Doug Hoglund said his congregation wanted to raise the funds to mark its 75th anniversary.
Board members of Angel Housing Solutions include (left to right): Chuck Weiss, Kathy Beveridge (Director and Treasurer), Sophia Wisniewska, and Joe Baumhauer (Founder).
“Housing is crucial to lifting someone out of poverty,” said Hoglund, who has seen the church’s pastor for 32 years. “It will really help someone become whole, as God intended them to be.”
Beveridge said Woodside’s donation will underwrite the rent for a two-bedroom apartment for four years, the length of time the Opportunity Council typically supports a family in its economic self-sufficiency program.
“This is very fitting for our ‘one family at a time approach,’” said Beveridge. With approximately 80 families in Bucks County looking for affordable rental housing, according to the BCOC, the need is great.
“It’s our hope,” said Beveridge, “the example of Woodside Church will inspire other organizations and individuals to join us and help in whatever way they can — whether through small monthly donations, larger one-time gifts, gifts of property, or connecting us to others who are likely to care.” Bucks County’s Department of Housing and Community Development’s annual survey conducted on a single night in January identified 421 people without stable housing in 2025, up from 407 in 2024. Those sleeping in Code Blue shelters increased by 15% compared to 2024.
On a positive note, for the ninth consecutive year, no children were found sleeping outdoors. The number of unhoused people with serious mental illness also dropped, according to the survey.
“Life is not easy,” said the mother who has moved into the first AHS apartment. “Now, with housing, it’s helped with everything. It’s very difficult to make progress when you don’t have a stable home.”
Angel Housing Solutions recently purchased its first property in Warminster.
