Exhibit 24

                          HOVNANIAN ENTERPRISES, INC.

                            1983 Stock Option Plan
    (as Amended and Restated May 4, 1990, and Amended through May 14, 1998)

                               POWER OF ATTORNEY

KNOW ALL MEN BY THESE PRESENTS, that each of the undersigned officers and
directors of Hovnanian Enterprises, Inc., a Delaware corporation, (the
"Company") in their respective capacities set forth below constitutes and
appoints Peter S. Reinhart and J. Larry Sorsby, and each of them their true
and lawful attorneys-in-fact and agents, with full power of substitution and
resubstitution, for them and in their names, place and stead, in any and all
capacities, to do any and all acts and all things and to execute any and all
instruments which said attorney and agent may deem necessary or desirable to
enable the Company to comply with the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and
any rules, regulations and requirements of the Securities and Exchange
Commission thereunder in connection with the registration under such Act of
the Class A Common Stock, par value $0.01 per share and Class B Common Stock,
par value $0.01 per share (collectively, the "Common Stock") of the Company
to be issued by the Company pursuant to the 1983 Stock Option Plan (as
amended and restated May 4, 1990, and amended through May 14, 1998) to the
extent that any such registration may be required in the opinion of the
executive officers of the Company, upon the advice of counsel, including
without limitation, the power and authority to sign the name of the
undersigned individual in the capacity indicated below opposite the name of
such individual to the Registration Statement on Form S-8 or any Form
relating to the registration of such Common Stock, to be filed with the
Securities and Exchange Commission with respect to said Common Stock, to sign
any and all amendments (including post-effective amendments) and supplements
to such Registration Statement, and to file the same, with all exhibits
thereto, and other documents in connection therewith, with the Securities and
Exchange Commission, granting unto said attorneys-in-fact and agents, and
each of them, full power and authority to do and perform each and every act
and thing requisite and necessary to be done, as fully to all intents and
purposes as he or she might or could do in person, hereby ratifying and
confirming all that said attorneys-in-fact and agents, or any of them, or
their substitutes, may lawfully do or cause to be done by virtue hereof.


Signature                      Title               Date
---------                      -----               ----
/s/ Kevork S. Hovnanian
----------------------
Kevork S. Hovnanian      Chairman of the Board     March 13, 2001



/s/ Ara K. Hovnanian
-----------------------
Ara K. Hovnanian           Chief Executive Officer,
                           President and Director         March 13, 2001

/s/ Paul W. Buchanan
-----------------------
    Paul W. Buchanan       Senior Vice President Corporate
                           Controller and Director        March 13, 2001

/s/ Geaton A. DeCesaris, Jr.
---------------------------
Geaton A. DeCesaris, Jr.  President Homebuilding
                          Operations, Chief Operating
                          Officer and Director            March 13, 2001










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