9:00-9:15am: Opening Remarks
(Grand Ballroom)
Taiisa Kelly (Chief Executive Officer, Monarch Housing Associates)
Marcus Randolph (Chair, Board of Trustees, Monarch Housing Associates; Chief Executive Officer, Invest Newark)
Amber M. Randolph (Associate Vice President, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation)
9:15-10:00am: Morning Keynote
(Grand Ballroom)
Professor Balakrishnan Rajagopal (Former UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing; MIT)
11:00am-12:15pm: Breakout Session I
Ending Homelessness in New Jersey is a collective responsibility that requires active participation from a variety of stakeholders to create lasting system change. Over the last 2 years New Jersey stakeholders have engaged in a process to develop and implement a Statewide Strategic Plan to End Family and Youth Homelessness. This effort has been a collaboration between state agencies, homeless system partners and foundations. In this session we will dig into the plan as well as hear from philanthropy about the various roles they can plan in supporting communities in creating system change.
Evan Delgado (President, Programs, Turrell Fund)
Taiisa Kelly (Chief Executive Officer, Monarch Housing Associates)
Renee Koubiadis (Senior Policy Advisor, New Jersey Department of Community Affairs)
Kathleen Smith (Program Director, Partners for Health)
Lucy Vandenberg (Executive Director, Schumann Fund for New Jersey)
Affordable housing begins with land. Who owns it, who controls it, and who benefits from it are questions that shape whether communities can create and preserve affordable housing for the long term.
This panel will explore how different models of land ownership, including community land trusts, neighborhood land trusts, shared equity approaches, and strategic use of publicly owned land – can expand access to affordable housing while ensuring lasting community benefit. Panelists will discuss the opportunities and challenges of acquiring land, financing and sustaining community ownership models, and preserving affordability overtime.
As governments increasingly examine publicly owned land as a resource for housing development, this conversation will highlight innovative partnerships, financing strategies, and policy solutions that help communities move from land access to long-term stewardship. Attendees will gain insight into how different models of ownership and control of land can create more equitable development and strengthen neighborhoods for community residents.
Adriana Abizadeh-Barbour (Executive Director, Kensington Corridor Trust)
Jeffrey Crum (CEO, Ellavoz Impact Capital)
April De Simone (Vesi)
Alexa McNeil (Growth and Coordination Consultant, Essex Community Land Trust)
Cara Purcell (Director of Innovative Finance, Grounded Solutions Network)
Who Owns the Land presentation Part I
Who Owns the Land presentation and contact information Part II
Though coordinated entry is utilized as an entry point for housing solutions, there is a window of opportunity for the program to operate in a more robust capacity. This panel will highlight systems where coordinated entry has been able to expand the housing availability for those on the prioritization list by fostering relationships and filling gaps for affordable housing developers.
Nicole Cyr (Monmouth County Department of Health & Human Services)
Maseta Dorley (Senior Associate, Technical Assistance Collaborative)
The affordable housing crisis and climate crisis have merged. Wildfires incinerate neighborhoods, hurricanes demolish entire costal regions, floods ravage homes leaving them uninhabitable for months, tornadoes obliterate communities – stress testing planners, developers, and policy makers in ways we are only beginning to reckon with. This panel examines what extreme weather is doing to housing affordability.
As Insurers are abandoning climate-exposed markets and extreme weather events are wiping out affordable housing stock faster than it can be rebuilt, displacement permanently prices out residents least able to absorb them.
This panel explores how extreme weather is reshaping housing costs, insurance markets and development economics. What is realistic intervention?
Christopher Colley, AICP/PP (Principal, Topology)
Andrew Davis, Ph.D., Esq. (Shipman & Goodwin LLP)
Joe Quarantello (Brown & Brown National Environment Practice Leader)
This panel marries two important issues (historical housing inequalities and modern health inequalities caused by housing) in an effort to guide modern developers to avoid the pitfalls of the past – all with a throughline of applicability to housing projects being built now.
Mike Cassidy (Senior Development Project Manager NY/NJ, The Community Builders, Inc.)
Dr. Carl E. Gershenson (Eviction Lab at Princeton University)
Dr. Robert Nelson (University of Richmond)
This panel will explore how People with Lived Experience (PWLE) can be powerful partners in improving housing and homelessness programs and driving meaningful system change. Through real-world examples, panelists will highlight how tenant advocacy boards and advisory groups have helped create better outcomes for communities.
Joelle Ballam-Schwan (Director of Programs & Engagement, Supportive Housing Network of New York)
Barbara Gonzalez (Chair, Trenton/Mercer Advisory Board)
Caitlin Nascher (Asbury Park Tenants Association)
Will Woods (Supportive Housing Network of NY (SHNNY); Care for the Homeless; Open Hearts)
Navigating uncertainty in supportive housing requires tools that highlight participant resilience and growth. This panel explores how CoCs and service providers can use Client Acuity assessment tools to accurately measure stability and transition readiness. Panelists will also share strengths-based approaches and highlight successful “Moving On” programs that create clear, empowering pathways from supportive housing to long-term independence.
Melissa Bellamy (Division Head, Middlesex County Division of Housing)
Tanika Moss (Chair, Passaic County Advisory Board; Member, Statewide Advisory Board)
Vernett Sherrill (CoC Consultant, City of Trenton)
Emmy Tiderington, PhD, LMSW (Associate Professor, School of Social Work, Rutgers University)
Assessing Strengths in Uncertain Times presentation and contact information
Taking pointers from successful and ongoing community projects, this conversation will elucidate how a community- or faith-based organization comes to the decision to develop affordable housing. Partners involved in these developments will share their successes and challenges in creating much-needed housing and explore how policy changes can lead the way to the development of quality housing and community spaces. Panelists will showcase real life examples of adaptive reuse projects being completed without compromising ongoing organizational presence or spiritual mission.
Jerrod Delaine (Chief Executive Officer, The Delaine Companies)
Jim Scanlon (Chairman, Affordable Housing for At-Risk, Homeless, and Aging Veterans, American Legion Department of New Jersey – Past Department Vice Commander)
Mitchell Zupko (Senator Troy Singleton’s Office)
12:30-1:00pm: Lunch
(Grand Ballroom)
1:00-2:00pm: Lunch Plenary Panel
(Grand Ballroom)
Krystle Crawford (Chair, Union County Advisory Board)
Michelle Griffith (Chair, Ocean County Advisory Board; Member, Statewide Advisory Board)
Tosha Rutledge (Chair, Tri-County Advisory Board)
Donald Whitehead (Executive Director, National Coalition for the Homeless)
2:15-3:30pm: Breakout Session II
Rapid Rehousing can be an instrumental tool in ending homelessness among families and individuals, but with it come a number of hurdles, especially in the New Jersey housing market, but rapid rehousing and housing navigation thrive when executive vision, frontline execution, and landlord partnerships operate in perfect harmony. This session confronts the real-world friction between rigid compliance mandates and chaotic daily realities. Through presenter best practices, live “Fishbowl” role-plays, perspective-shifting experiments, and real-time crowdsourcing, executives, navigators, and housing providers will learn how to leverage actionable empathy to break down administrative silos, prevent staff burnout, and build lasting, high-value landlord collaborations and successful rapid rehousing programs.
Cindy Moussavou (Housing Families First)
Corey Panati (Bringing Veterans Home Supervisor, Soldier On)
Rev. Mark-Anthony Rassmann, Sr. (Levi Construction)
Beth Vann-Turnbull (Executive Director, Housing Families First)
Municipalities can play a critical role in ending unsheltered homelessness in their communities. This panel will explore effective strategies for advocacy at the local level that encourage human-centered solutions and municipalities that have developed local responses to address community needs.
Derek Bloom (Director of Community Engagement and Organizing, The Trinity Center for Community)
Matt DeSantis (Co-Founder, Teen Think Tank Project)
Keith Jones (Director, City of New Brunswick)
Ayaan Srivastava (Research Fellow, Social Action Lab)
Jiya Verma (Research Fellow, Social Action Lab)
As the need for a response to the housing and homelessness crisis increases, one thing is abundantly clear, existing programs and providers cannot do it without additional support. This panel will discuss how non-traditional partners are critical in serving those experiencing homelessness and ending homelessness in communities through their work in filling funding or service gaps.
Allan Betau (Project Coordinator, American Legion; COO, Foundation for Sustainable Veteran Housing)
Nicole Dorrity (Program Manager, JBJ Soul Kitchen)
Joanne Gwin (Community Coordinator, JBJ Soul Kitchen Restaurant Toms River)
Kiara Marie Lorenzana (Girl Scouts of Greater New York)
The Role on Non-Traditional Partners presentation and contact information
This panel will highlight LISC’s AABC collaborative to expand opportunities for emerging developers of affordable housing. Panelists will share updates on this work and discuss the ongoing effort to highlight gaps, identify overlaps, and make financing more inclusive of and accessible to emerging developers. Attendees will get to preview and provide feedback on Monarch’s in-development web clearinghouse of affordable housing financing programs in NJ, created as part of the collaborative.
Jorge Cruz (Executive Director, LISC-New Jersey)
Wayne Meyer (President, Brick By Brick Training & Development Corporation)
Antonio Valla (Founder, Uptown Development)
From Vienna’s century-old social housing tradition, where more than half the city’s population lives in publicly subsidized housing, to Singapore’s Housing Development Board, which has made homeownership a near-universal reality through land stewardship, mixed-income community land trust in the UK, emerging cooperative housing in Uruguay and Finland’s elimination of chronic homelessness the international landscape offers a rich array of approaches.
This discussion probes the structural conditions that allow these models to succeed: the role of land policy, financing mechanisms, political will, community will and design innovation.
Attendees will leave with a comparative framework for evaluating housing interventions in their own context and inspiration for adaptation closer to home.
Scott Mullarkey (Vice President/CRA Investment Officer, TD Bank, U.S., Community Capital Group)
Asish Patel (Chief Operating Officer, Monarch Housing Associates)
Agencies often spend the first initial weeks, or months, of engagement with unsheltered persons focused on meeting their immediate needs: food, shelter, resource connection, but this can result in longer lengths of homelessness and delays in accessing longer term solutions. This panel will describe what it looks like to primarily be focused on permanent housing from initial engagement and how it can provide effective long-term outcomes for those who need it.
Tricia Bradly (Angels in Motion)
Chris Gorman (Senior Associate, OrgCode Consulting)
Laura Rowan (Case Manager/CPRS, Angels in Motion)
Dave Sawatzky (Chief Operating Officer, Calgary Drop-In Centre)
The Shift to Housing Focused presentation and contact information
The affordable housing development process is a complicated one in which developers must navigate and coordinate funding, timelines, reviews and approvals between multiple programs, agencies and institutions. Often developers face duplicative and inefficient review processes that slowdown and set back development timelines ultimately impacting the project completion and cost. This panel will explore direct ways in which the review process impacts projects and creative solutions to streamline and expedite the process while preserving oversight and quality.
Bakari G. Lee, Esq (Member, McManimon, Scotland & Baumann, LLC)
Craig Sawyer (Managing Member, Poiema Development Group)
Eliminating the Red Tape presentation and contact information
As Monarch’s Housing is a Human Right campaign continues to grow and evolve, this panel brings together advocates and legislative experts to explore how affirming the right to housing would support New Jersey communities. Panelists will explore how policies and models grounded in the human rights perspective fit into the current housing framework in our state.
Assemblywoman Katie Brennan (NJ State Legislature)
Kate Kelly (Executive Director, Supportive Housing Association of NJ (SHA))
Taiisa Kelly (Chief Executive Officer, Monarch Housing Associates)
Dr. Jermaine Meadows (NYC Director of Government Affairs, Hudson Gateway Association of Realtors)
Brandon McGee, Jr. (Former Deputy Director, Connecticut Department Housing and Legislator)
3:30-5:00pm: Open Forum Q&A Sessions
NEW JERSEY HOUSING STABILITY INSTITUTE: IMPROVING SERVICE DELIVERY
New Jersey is taking a major step toward improving housing stability. This session will provide details about an initiative designed to equip housing and resource professionals with the knowledge and skills needed to help households overcome housing challenges. The New Jersey Department of Community Affairs (DCA) Housing Stability Institute was developed with the Rutgers Institute for Families, with input from providers, people with lived experience, and other stakeholders. Attendees will gain an understanding of how the State plans to strengthen services through statewide workforce standards and training with the goal of safe and secure housing.
Alicia Alvarez (Advocacy Coordinator/Program Coordinator, Nourish.NJ)
Renee Koubiadis (Senior Policy Advisor, New Jersey Department of Community Affairs)
Rita Mirabelli (NJ DCA Office of Homelessness Prevention)
Brenda Myrick (Director of Programs and Impact, Bridges Outreach, Inc.)
Dr. Rebecca Swann-Jackson (Associate Research Manager, Institute for Families, School
While we know affordable housing units and long-term housing vouchers are one of the best resources to help someone end their homelessness, the documentation and application process can be a barrier if not done correctly. Join this interactive session on navigating the application process and making sure anyone seeking these services are given the guidance they need to be successful.
Dr. Theresa Pringle (Chair, Essex County Advisory Board; Member, Statewide Advisory)