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Camden Housing Projects Replace Aging Public Units in Cramer Hill
Obsolete public housing stock in neighborhoods such as Cramer Hill has driven the city's current pipeline of replacements and upgrades documented in its 2026 action plan.
How we reported this
Ablett Village in Camden's Cramer Hill neighborhood is replacing 306 obsolete public housing units with 425 new energy-efficient residential units across a 5-phase master plan.
The effort stems from years of deferred maintenance on older buildings that no longer meet modern standards for energy use or resident needs. City documents trace the push to a broader recognition that existing stock limited options for low-income households while demand for stable housing grew. The 2026 action plan frames these replacements as a direct response to that accumulated shortfall rather than a sudden new initiative.
Neighborhood Sites Tied to the Pipeline
Branch Village Phase V in the Centerville neighborhood will add 10 affordable for-sale homes aimed at low- and moderate-income buyers. Three senior towers containing 295 RAD units are also listed for construction start in summer 2026. These locations sit alongside nearly two miles of Broadway scheduled for a $1.6-million rehabilitation between Chelton and Whitman avenues this summer. Each site appears in the same planning document that outlines the overall shift from obsolete units to updated stock.
The developments reflect a sequence that began with assessments of existing public housing conditions and moved toward coordinated replacements funded through multiple city and federal sources. Officials have tracked the same aging inventory for more than a decade before advancing the current set of projects.
Numbers Behind the Shift
The current development pipeline includes approximately 450 new units by 2026, including 280 affordable units. Two phases of the Ablett Village plan are already complete, leaving the remaining three stages to deliver the balance of the 425 units. These figures come directly from the city's draft 2026 action plan, which lists the projects as responses to documented supply constraints in the Cramer Hill and Centerville areas.
Residents seeking updates can review the full draft plan on the city website and attend upcoming public meetings on remaining phases. The document also notes ongoing coordination with federal housing programs to keep the pipeline moving forward.