Opening: 9:00-9:30am (Regency Ballroom)
Morning Keynote: 9:30-10:00am (Regency Ballroom)
Breakout Session I: 10:15-11:30am
Adenah Bayoh (Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Foya Development Group)
Eric Dobson (Deputy Director, Fair Share Housing)
Michael Telesford (Senior Community Investment Officer, Corporation for Supportive Housing)
This session will focus on some of the challenges emerging developers of color face in successfully competing in the affordable housing development space. Panelists will discuss challenges as they have experienced them in their path to becoming high impact players in the affordable housing development space and share their insights on strategies that can support emerging developers of color to effectively work in this space.
Kayann Foster (Community Engagement Coordinator, CUMAC ; Community Consultant)
Raquel Kooper (Community Consultant, Morris County Advisory Board; Intern, Monarch Housing Associates)
Ms. Pringle (Advocate with Lived Experience; Community Consultant)
Zakiyyah Wilson (Community Consultant; Trustee, Monarch Housing Associates)
Ivan Wei (Community Consultant)
This session will feature Community Consultants from advisory boards supporting local homeless service systems across New Jersey. Speakers will share their thoughts on critical areas of focus for local planning efforts to end homelessness and strategies to imbue systems with equity and effective strategies to increase access to and stability in permanent housing for individuals and families experiencing homelessness.
Jay Everett (Realtor, Keller Williams Realty Ocean Living)
Ewa Ferry, MA (Administrative Director of Adult Programs, Mental Health Association of Monmouth County)
Nancy Holland (Housing Acquisition Manager, Merchants Affordable Housing Corp/HomeNow Indy)
Greg Stocking (Vice President of Rental Assistance Programs, Merchants Affordable Housing Corp./HomeNow Indy)
This session will highlight innovative approaches to assisting voucher tenants with identifying and securing apartments in the private market. Speakers will share their successes in developing landlord support programs and relationships with realtors to build expedited pathways to housing for people experiencing homelessness and in receipt of housing vouchers.
Joel Cantor, Sc.D (Distinguished Professor of Public Policy, E.J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy Director, Center for State Health Policy, Institute for Health, Health Care Policy, and Aging Research)
Evan Cole, Ph.D (Research Associate Professor, University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health)
This session will focus on work linking Homeless Management Information Systems data with Medicaid Management Information Systems data to identify and understand the characteristics of persons served in both systems. Speakers will highlight key findings from recently completed research and offer insight into how this data can be used to strengthen planning in both the homeless service system and healthcare system through a collaborative review of community needs and characteristics.
Michael De Blasio (Director of Real Estate, New Jersey Community Development Corporation)
Angela Randall (Director of Planning and Homeless Services with Community Planning & Advocacy (CPAC)
This session will highlight innovative partnerships between homeless services and healthcare systems to create housing opportunities for individuals with high levels of vulnerability. Building on the concept that housing is healthcare, panelists will provide examples of programs that are successfully linking housing and healthcare through the Housing First Initiative and the NJMHFA Hospital Partnership Subsidy Program.
Breakout Session II: 11:45am-1:00pm
Jorge Cruz (Executive Director – New Jersey Office, Local Initiatives Support Corporation)
Ashley McLoed (Senior Program Director, Enterprise’s Equitable Path Forward Initiative, Enterprise Community Partners)
This session will focus on what funders are doing to help create space for emerging developers to participate in affordable housing work. We will hear from national and state partners about new initiatives to support emerging developers access the training and capital necessary to participate in affordable housing development.
Victor B. Carlson, Psy.D (Chief, Homeless Services, Department of Veterans Affairs in New Jersey),
Vince Kane (Director, Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Wilmington)
Steve Schoch, AIA, LEED AP (Principal/Director of Housing, Kitchen & Associates)
This session will highlight specific programs, policies, and services to reduce homelessness for Veterans. Panelists will offer insight through a perspective that combines healthcare and housing to address current barriers that disproportionately affect the vulnerable population. We will hear how to implement a comprehensive plan of action that supports Homeless Veterans through a combination of community resources such as, supportive housing, life skills development, and access to health and dental care.
James Mathy (Administrator, Milwaukee County Department of Health & Human Services)
Jessica Preheim (Vice President of Strategic Planning & Public Affairs, Houston Coalition for the Homeless)
Ana Rausch (Vice President of Program Operations, Houston Coalition for the Homeless)
This session will focus on the efforts to end homelessness in Houston and Milwaukee. Members of the Coalition for the Homeless in Houston, the CoC Lead Agency, will discuss how they have pulled together the resources, planning and political will to house 25,000 households in the last 10 years. Presenters from Milwaukee will share the keys to their success in reducing unsheltered homelessness from 200 to 17 in five years.
Kathe Newman, Ph.D (Professor, Urban Planning and Policy Development Program at the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy ; Director, Ralph W. Voorhees Center for Civic Engagement)
Eric Seymour, Ph.D (Assistant Professor, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, Rutgers University)
This session will focus on Dr. Kathe Newman and Dr. Eric Seymour’s work with The New Jersey State of Affordable Rental Housing (NJSOARH) project. NJSOARH seeks to better understand the state of rental housing in New Jersey, the processes that shape housing security, and community and resident experiences. Drs. Newman and Seymour will share insights learned from initial stakeholder engagement and data reviews regarding factors impacting affordable housing and access in New Jersey
Marybeth Gonzales (Deputy Director Policy, Planning and Program Management, Office of Homeless Services, City of Philadelphia)
Tanika Moss (Care Coordinator, Heart of Hannah Women’s Center; Community Consultant)
Eileen O’Donnell (Executive Director, Coming Home of Middlesex County, Inc.)
Luis Ulerio (Homelessness Czar, Mayor’s Office of Homeless Services, City of Newark)
This session will discuss how communities are building partnerships with housing developers, landlords and housing authorities to create housing opportunities for households experiencing homelessness. Panelists will share how they have utilized CoC and local resources to build partnerships and support the creation of housing opportunities through development and rental assistance.
Lunch / Afternoon Keynote: 1:00-2:30pm (Regency Ballroom)
Breakout Session III: 2:30-3:45pm
Joseph Alpert (Managing Member & President, The Alpert Group)
Marcus Randolph (President & Chief Executive Officer, Invest Newark; Trustee, Monarch Housing Associates)
Randall M. Wood (Executive Director, Housing Authority of Plainfield)
This session will discuss the importance of public and private partnerships in the creation of affordable and supportive housing development projects. Invest Newark will share insights on the role community landbanks can play in revitalizing neighborhoods, building equity, creating affordable housing and ending homelessness. The Alpert Group discuss partnerships they have created in developing affordable housing, with a focus on their partnerships with housing authorities, as illustrated by the Plainfield Housing Authority.
Alicia Alvarez (Community Representative)
Nadine Azari (Associate, Monarch Housing Associates)
Regina Cannon (Chief Equity and Impact Officer, Vice President, Housing Solutions, C4 Innovations)
Bobbin Paskell (Chief Operating Officer/Assistant Director of Systems, Coming Home of Middlesex County, Inc.)
This session will focus on the development of planning processes led by impacted communities in the pursuit of ending homelessness and advancing equity. Panelists will discuss the process for engaging and supporting impacted communities and lessons learned about expanding the planning table to include voices from individuals with lived expertise to further address racial equity and build systems responsive to community needs.
Nichele J. Carver (Senior Regional Advisor, U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness)
This session will focus on the Federal Strategic plan to prevent and end homelessness. The session will highlight the importance of partnerships between national, state, local, and private stakeholders to efficiently distribute resources and devise a plan of action at every level. We will also hear about federal top priorities, concerns, and ways to address racial equity under the Federal Strategic Plan.
Katharine Nelson, Ph.D (Director of Research, Housing Initiative at Penn (HIP))
Ms. Pringle (Advocate with Lived Experience, Community Consultant)
This session will look at the impacts of housing on community building and metropolitan equity through the lens of law and policy, as well as from the perspective of individuals experiencing the impacts of those laws and policies. Dr. Nelson will highlight findings from two recent reports from Rutgers Center on Law, Inequality, and Metropolitan Equity (CLiME): Who Owns Newark? Transferring Wealth from Newark Homeowners to Corporate Buyers, Housing Gaps in Cities of Color, and Homes Beyond Reach. Ms. Pringle will ground these findings in the real-life experiences of Newarkers trying to access safe, affordable housing. Dr. Nelson and Ms. Pringle will explore the housing and rental market of Newark and the difficulties that prospective renters and buyers face in an increasingly expensive market.