Supporters Rally For Upper Gwynedd Affordable Housing Project

UPPER GWYNEDD, PA — Dozens of advocates rallied in Upper Gwynedd over the weekend to support one of Montgomery County's most high profile affordable housing proposals a week before a crucial vote.

The Cornerstone at Pennbrook Station, a 60-unit multifamily complex, would provide "workforce" housing for crucial personnel who have been increasingly priced out of expensive areas.

Organizers with the Montco 30 Percent Project, North Penn Advocates, and the Bucks-Mont Collaborative gathered together neighbors and local leaders at the rally on Sunday. They said the project, and others like it, are crucial for communities that need teachers, nurses, first responders, service workers, and others to be able to live reasonably close to work.

“This is what community looks like,” Mike Hays, Director of the Montco 30%Project, said Sunday. “Cornerstone is about dignity and belonging, about making sure the people who keep our towns running can also call them home.”

The project has faced fierce opposition from local groups who either do not agree or do not see the necessity in providing more reasonably-priced housing a rapidly growing area that has steadily grown more and more expensive, pricing out many.

“When we can’t afford to have our 911 operators, our child-care workers, our EMTs, and our police officers live in the same communities where they work, our entire community is harmed by that," added Emma Hertz, HealthSpark Foundation president and CEO.

Upper Gwynedd Township will vote on the next phase of the plan at a public meeting on Nov. 17 at 7 p.m.

The project is targeted specifically toward households making roughly between $44,000 and $66,000 per year. It's already received a $970,000 loan from the county's MontcoForward program.

Housing costs have ballooned in Upper Gwynedd and around the region in recent years, and inflation and growing income inequality have put an increasing number of residents on the edge.

The meeting on Nov. 17 will be held at One Parkside Place and is open to the public.