The Diocese of Camden has built nearly 200 affordable senior housing units in Pennsauken
Stonegate residents have direct access to on-site social services, including medical treatment and food assistance.
Dozens of Pennsauken’s low-income and homeless seniors can now get a roof over their head without having to leave their community, thanks to a new 54-unit affordable housing project, the latest phase of a nearly 20-year endeavor from the Diocese of Camden.
Built on the former St. Stephen grade school campus and within walking distance of St. Stephen’s Parish on Browning Road, the newly completed $17 million building has grown the overall Stonegate at St. Stephen community to nearly 200 apartments for low-income and homeless seniors and individuals with disabilities.
This third phase of Stonegate was paid for with federal low-income housing tax credits, a permanent mortgage from the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency, and a $500,000 HOME loan from Camden County, said Jamie Reynolds, executive director of the Diocesan Housing Services Corp. of the Diocese of Camden.
The first two phases of the project, together providing 143 affordable units, opened in 2007 and 2020, respectively.
Stonegate residents have direct access to on-site social services for whatever they may need, Reynolds said, whether it be medical treatment or food assistance or access to transportation.
“We want to make sure that we know our residents and help connect them with all the resources available in the community to support them living independently,” he said.
A part-time wellness nurse will also be in each building, assisting residents as they navigate the complex healthcare system, “helping to make sure that they get connected with doctors and other resources they need to tend to their health needs and to age in place with a high level of well-being,” Reynolds said.
“We’ve been pretty successful in allowing people to age in place, I think, quite a bit longer than a typical senior community because we have this kind of intensive focus on making sure we’re supporting them as deeply as we can,” he said.
The Stonegate campus also includes lifestyle amenities for residents like a multipurpose community room, bocce courts, a gazebo, and a walking path.
“As mayor, one of the things I’m most proud of is that Pennsauken is a community where people can put down roots, raise their families, and have the opportunity to remain right here as they grow older,” Pennsauken Mayor Patrick Olivo said at the opening this week. “That’s why projects like Stonegate are so important. What has been created here gives our seniors a safe, comfortable, and affordable place to live, while maintaining their independence and remaining part of the community.”
Over the two decades that the Diocese of Camden has been building Stonegate in Pennsauken, the poverty rate among people 65 and older across America has been steadily rising, up 20% since 2019, according to Census Bureau data.
Of the nearly 126,000 people ages 60 and older who lived in Camden County in 2024, 12,208 individuals, about 9.7%, were living below the poverty line, according to census data.
“Right now, especially in dense urban places like South Jersey and North Jersey, you just have a relatively inexhaustible need for affordable senior housing,” Reynolds said.
“For folks who want to stay in the region, who want to downsize from whatever situation they’re in, or get into a situation that is more affordable, these kinds of projects are really lifelines in terms of helping folks to be able to stay,” he said.
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