Affordable Senior Housing in Camden Opens with On-Site Health Care – Oliver Station
New Affordable Senior Housing in Camden Brings Health Care Right to the Doorsteps of Residents
Camden, New Jersey — A new senior housing complex has officially opened in Camden. It not only provides inexpensive apartments, but it also has high-quality medical services just a few steps away.
Virtua Health and The Michaels Organization worked together to build Oliver Station, which cost $24 million. People are calling it a model for the future of senior living in New Jersey. The three-story complex is for persons 55 and over. It has pleasant, income-restricted apartments and a primary care facility on site. The goal is to improve health equity and quality of life for older inhabitants.
A First for Senior Communities in South Jersey
Oliver Station is the first community in South Jersey to have affordable senior living and medical services on the same property. It is in Camden’s Whitman Park area. The development is on a property that used to be empty close to the Ferry Avenue PATCO station. It is less than a mile from Virtua Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital and is simple to get there by public transportation.
Victor Carstarphen, the mayor of Camden, said that the project would make a “safe, stable, and dignified place” for people to live. “This is about giving seniors not only a place to live that they can afford, but also the health care they need right where they live,” he said.
Affordable Housing That Comes With Health Care
Oliver Station has 47 flats for people who make 60% or less of the area’s median income. Ten of these units are set aside for seniors who qualify for housing subsidies from the Camden Housing Authority. Five of these flats are for people who are currently homeless.
The flats, which have one or two bedrooms, have modern kitchens, full baths, and new appliances. People who live there can also use shared amenities like a fitness facility, laundry facilities, and a large community area that is great for social events.
The 5,200-square-foot primary care clinic inside the building is what makes Oliver Station unique. The facility has 10 exam rooms and is staffed by a team of doctors, nurses, and medical assistants. It will also be used to teach medical residents. This special arrangement lets seniors get health care without having to worry about getting there or making appointments.
Strong Partnerships Support the Project
The New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency’s Hospital Partnership Subsidy Program made the development possible. This program encourages hospitals and developers to work together on affordable housing developments that simultaneously meet the health needs of the community.
The project got $4.1 million from Virtua Health, which runs five hospitals in the state. The New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency gave $4.2 million in money. This project is part of a larger plan to build more than 250 affordable housing units around the state, at least 50 of which will be permanent supportive housing.
Oliver Station’s property and asset management will be handled by the Michaels Organization, which is one of the biggest providers of affordable housing in the US.
Honoring Two Leaders from New Jersey
The name “Oliver Station” honors two important people: Rev. Thomas Clement Oliver, who led Camden’s oldest African American congregation and was a conductor on the Underground Railroad, and Lt. Gov. Sheila Y. Oliver, who fought for affordable housing and health care access and died in 2023.
The late Lt. Governor would be happy of how the project has helped people, said Melanie R. Walter, executive director of the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency. “Sheila Oliver worked hard for housing, health care, and the health of the community. This development brings all those important things together in one place,” she remarked.
A Model That Is Growing for the State
The Hospital Partnership Subsidy Program has finished its second project, Oliver Station. The first one, Barclay Place in Paterson, debuted in 2024 and has St. Joseph’s Health provide housing and health care services in the same place.
State officials want initiatives like these to be the norm in the future so that seniors in New Jersey may get the health care and housing they need without having to leave their neighborhoods.
As people from Camden move into their new homes, Oliver Station is a great example of how housing and health care can work together to make neighborhoods stronger, healthier, and more connected.
Sources:
New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency
Virtua Health
The Michaels Organization
