D-3: A panel discussion: State of NJ Senior Housing
HUD; Service Coordinator – 1.25 Credit Hours | Wednesday, June 21st. 3:45 PM – 5:00 PM
Session Description:
State housing leaders and subject matter experts examine the existing and future landscape of supportive senior housing. Join NJHMFA, DCA and DHS for a conversation about what’s happening, and get the latest on new programs, funding opportunities, agency priorities or developments, and more.
Learning Objectives:
Identify new programs for senior housing
Describe available funding opportunities for senior housing
Recall agency priorities as it relates to senior housing
Speakers:
Janel Winter
Assistant Commissioner, Division of Housing and Community Resources, Department of Community Affairs
Janel Winter is a passionate, mission-driven leader with more than 15 years of experience in the affordable housing, homelessness and community development fields. Her area of deepest expertise is the intersection of housing and services for Medicaid populations and other vulnerable people. Throughout her career she has served as a catalyst for change, at the systems level and within individual agencies, designing and developing large policy initiatives and also driving the changes needed to make implementation work. She thinks of her role as a translator – she listens to stakeholders from various backgrounds and helps them understand each other’s languages, whether they speak the language of bankers who might finance a supportive housing project or invest in community development initiatives, governmental staff who administer highly regulated programs, advocates seeking large-scale policy shifts, community providers trying to navigate systems, or people expressing their lived experiences of poverty and inequity.
Melanie Walter
Director, New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency (NJHMFA)
Melanie R. Walter is the Executive Director of the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency, a statewide and national leader in providing and advocating for affordable housing and homeownership. Before joining NJHMFA in January 2021, Walter served as Department of Community Affairs (DCA) Director of the Division of Local Government Services (DLGS) and as Deputy Attorney General. She has been an advocate for governmental transformation and advancement, particularly in areas of government finance, collaborative outreach, and data driven programming. Ms. Walter, a New Jersey native, earned her Juris Doctor and her Masters of Public Policy from the College of William and Mary, and her bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Mary Washington. She is a member of the New Jersey and Virginia bars.
Jennifer Langer Jacobs
Assistant Commissioner Department of Human Services (DHS)
As Assistant Commissioner for the Division of Medical Assistance and Health Services in New Jersey’s Department of Human Services, Jennifer leads New Jersey’s Medicaid program and the Children’s Health Insurance Program.
