Engaging the workforce
By ROBERT LINNEHAN
The Cherry Hill Sun
9/25/2009

Employees who work but don’t live in the township should maybe take another look at relocating to Cherry Hill. The township announced last week its enrollment in the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency’s “Live Where You Work,” program.

The program, offered through the HMFA, offers potential homebuyers a home mortgage incentive program that provides low-interest mortgages and other perks. Marge Della Vecchia, executive director of the HMFA, welcomed Cherry Hill as the 20th municipality in the state to join the program.

“People who live in a community are engaged in their community,” she said. “People who just work in a town worry about where they’re going to park, where they’re going to eat, and how bad the traffic will be on the way in. That’s it.”

LWYW partners with area real estate agents and banks to offer attractive mortgage rates, flexible loan application reviews or underwriting criteria, and down-payment and closing-cost assistance of up to 5 percent of the mortgage amount.

According to the state, the assistance offered from this program does not have to be paid back if the homeowner lives in their new home for more than seven years.

The goal of LWYW is to build stronger communities by promoting homeownership and encouraging people to live closer to their jobs, representatives said.

Mayor Bernie Platt said the program would help bring in more first-time homebuyers and will help fill some of the homes that are currently for sale in the housing market.

“Making Cherry Hill more sustainable means taking advantage of opportunities such as the LWYW program,” Platt said. “It combines many of our goals as an administration: strengthening neighborhoods and bolstering community involvement, adopting greener lifestyles, reducing the use of nonrenewable resources, providing access to alternative transportation, and building a diverse population that thrives within our borders.”

Encouraging people to live near their places of business will potentially increase the usage of alternative transportation such as biking, walking and public transit, he said. The program does not have any costs attached for participation, but there are qualifications for potential homebuyers to take advantage of LWYW.

In Camden County, a family of one to two people can earn no more than $85,600 in total annual salary to qualify for the program. A family of three or more can’t earn more than $98,440.

Also, to qualify a one-person family can’t purchase a home in the county for more than $346,600.

A two person family can’t buy a home for more than $390,382 and a three person family for more than $474,296 to qualify for the program.

Anneliese McMenamin of Kennedy Health Systems said the health campus is looking forward to using the LWYW program to recruit local employees.

“We’re very excited about this comprehensive new program. People who work in this community, we’ve found, also want to live in this community,” she said. “This will be good for our hospital. People that work and live locally use our local systems.”

About 20 local employees have already signed up for more information, Communications Director Dan Keashen said.

Dawn Regan, a town hall employee, said the program was an interesting one and a money-saving initiative she and her family could qualify for. She and her husband currently live in Gloucester Township.

“The possible assistance is great. There are many programs out there, but normally we don’t qualify for any of them. This one we actually do,” she said. “Cherry Hill is a great place to live, and I see myself working here for a long time.”