For a nonprofit organization trying to provide affordable housing on expensive lots, it is key to construct a substantial number of units on every parcel, suggested the panelists, who included Newark Director of Economic Development Michael Meyer, New Jersey Future Executive Director Peter Kasabach, and Baye Adofo-Wilson, who runs Newark’s Lincoln Park Cultural District.

They made an appearance at HOMECorp’s 20th anniversary annual meeting, held in the Montclair Public Library. Aside from its regular Board of Trustee meetings, the nonprofit organization holds one public meeting per year during which the management reports to its more than 1,000 donors on HOMECorp’s accomplishments and financial health.

This meeting drew a crowd of around 50 people, including longtime supporters of HOMECorp, local political figures and clergy members.

The guest speakers’ discussion focused largely on the need for workforce housing in Montclair, which is housing for people who work in and/or for the township, such as police officers, firefighters and public school teachers, but who would have difficulty affording a residence here.

The panelists said most municipalities do not craft their zoning regulations to encourage workforce housing. Elected officials need to provide legislative incentives for higher-density, income-controlled projects, the experts said.

Wilson suggested that organizations like HOMECorp try persuading zoning boards to grant variances for higher density projects by emphasizing economic need.

Meanwhile, municipalities can do their part by amending zoning rules to be more conducive to such plans. For example, officials could reduce the required number of parking spaces for developments if they are in close enough proximity to train stations and other public transit, the speakers said.

Their recommendations seemed to clash with many municipal officials’ movement in recent years away from dense residential projects, which have become widely viewed as burdens on public school systems and other municipal services, such as the police, fire and utilities departments.

Kasabach, of New Jersey Future, acknowledged that high-density housing has a bad rep, but he said local leaders can sell such developments by emphasizing the pros of "walkable communities," where jobs, schools and stores can be accessed on foot, and residents need to rely on gasoline less often.

The diversification of a community’s income mix and the environmental payoff are part of the appeal of incorporating affordable housing into dense developments in places that already have the infrastructure and transportation to accommodate it, Kasabach said.

But economics work against that aim, since thriving urban centers often have high costs of living, and the people who work within them are therefore forced to reside a distance away, where housing costs are lower. That, in turn, causes urban sprawl and forces people to make long commutes, according to the panel.

Dr. Frank Barnes Jr., one of three new members of HOMECorp’s Board of Trustees who officially took office at the meeting, said he knows firsthand how the rising cost of living is making Montclair hard to afford. Barnes, an optometrist with an office on Orange Road, said some of his patients, as their bills soared, left the township and, in some cases, New Jersey to head south, where their money would go further.

Barnes joined HOMECorp’s 13-member board along with Montclair Police Detective Ricky Singleton, a member of the department for 14 years and a detective for a decade, and community volunteer Shelley Phillips, who will be replacing Simone Butler as board secretary.

During the meeting, Butler received the Rev. Archie Hargraves Memorial Award for her extensive volunteer work.