What makes older residents stay in Cherry Hill? A grant-funded study aims to find out.
Cherry Hill officials say housing options, tax rebates, and generational ties have nurtured its 55-plus community. Now, researchers hope to help the township better serve its older residents.
While East Coast retirees have a reputation for decamping to places like Florida for warm weather and lower taxes, many of Cherry Hill’s older residents have stuck around.
One-third of Cherry Hill’s residents are 55 or older.
“Cherry Hill is a wonderful place to raise a family and to live, so people don’t want to leave,” Mayor Dave Fleisher said.
Cherry Hill prides itself on its work with older residents — from tax-preparation assistance to social events, Fleisher said. Yet as the township continues to grow, local officials want to zero in on what its older community needs and how they can best deliver it.
Using a $70,000 grant from the New Jersey Department of Human Services, the township is embarking on a multipronged needs assessment to better understand and serve its older residents.
Why does Cherry Hill have such a large population of older residents?
Cherry Hill officials say varied housing options, tax-rebate programs like Stay NJ, and multigenerational ties have helped the township’s older population flourish.
“For those that have the means, it’s a conscious decision to stay,” Fleisher said. “They want to stay close to their kids, close to their grandkids.”
“It’s a very multigenerational community,” said Beth Segal, interim executive director of Cherry Hill’s Katz JCC, a watering hole for local older residents.
The JCC runs regular lunches, fitness classes (think pickleball and water aerobics), and programs on politics, literature, and art. Segal said she works with families who have been involved in the JCC for as many as four generations. Though Cherry Hill kids often leave the nest in search of big cities and new experiences, Segal said, many come back to raise their own kids alongside their parents and grandparents.
Fleisher said Cherry Hill’s relatively diverse housing stock has allowed residents to stay in the township without being forced to remain in the large — and, at times, expensive — single-family homes they raised their families in.
Around 20% of homes in Cherry Hill are multiunit. That’s higher than neighboring communities like Haddonfield (13%) and Moorestown (13%). Around 40% of homes in Voorhees are multifamily.
Two affordable housing complexes with designated units for older residents are set to open in Cherry Hill next year, joining existing communities like Weinberg Commons and the Plaza Grande.
Fleisher also credits tax-relief programs. Stay NJ, a statewide property tax benefit for New Jerseyans 65 and older, allows eligible homeowners to be reimbursed for up to 50% of their property tax bill, up to $13,000.
In 2023, Cherry Hill’s property taxes were around $1,600 higher than the county average. That year, Cherry Hill residents paid an average of $8,851, compared with the countywide average of $7,222.
What will the assessment entail?
There will be two phases. The qualitative phase, which is ongoing, includes focus groups and listening sessions with facilitators (the township has contracted with market research firm 18 Stones). The first phase will wrap up in December.
The quantitative phase will involve a survey that residents will be able to complete via email or paper mail, online, or over the phone. The survey, which is currently being formulated, will be translated into Spanish and Simplified Chinese.
The assessment is funded by a $70,000 grant from the New Jersey Department of Human Services. The department awarded grants to 17 municipal governments in March to “make communities more welcoming and livable for people of all ages” and to implement recommendations from the state’s 2024 Age‐Friendly Blueprint. Cherry Hill was the only municipality in Camden County to receive a grant. The assessment is to be finished by July 1, 2026.