Just Home, the supportive housing project on the Jacobi Medical Center campus for people leaving incarceration with major medical illnesses, may not be getting a new home after all.
The project will not be moved to Brooklyn despite the Adams administration’s promise to relocate it before his term expired, outgoing Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro confirmed to the Bronx Times on Dec. 29.
Mastro said the Adams administration made “substantial progress” towards moving Just Home to Bushwick instead of Morris Park, including identifying a location and nonprofit partner for supportive services. However, the approvals are not complete, leaving the issue to incoming Mayor Zohran Mamdan, he said.
Mamdani’s team did not respond to comment from the Bronx Times about what will happen with Just Home.
Just Home has come under fierce controversy, from Morris Park’s Indian Village residents to City Council leadership, since the Adams administration announced it’s development in August of 2022.
The project was to be located on a vacant Jacobi property at 1900 Seminole Ave. in the Indian Village section of Morris Park, a residential neighborhood dominated by single-family homes.
The development was set to have 58 units for single patients exiting incarceration and identified as having long-term, incurable medical conditions requiring frequent treatment.
The remaining 24 units would be regular affordable housing with preference for area residents.
After it was announced, Community Board 11 meetings and public hearings on Just Home devolved into chaos, shouting and name-calling. Residents opposed said that “criminals” and “animals” would make the neighborhood unsafe and should not take priority over other residents, and supporters of the development were shouted down and threatened.
NYC Health + Hospitals approved Just Home at Jacobi in 2024, but it remained in limbo until an abruptly-announced council hearing this year on Sept. 18, which drew both protestors and supporters.
At that point, Mastro tried to block a full council vote, writing in a letter to the council that Just Home “will never go forward as currently constituted.”
Mastro said the administration wanted the Jacobi building to be turned into supportive and affordable housing — but not for formerly incarcerated individuals, due to local opposition. He said the project application should be considered withdrawn and that City Hall and H+H were considering a different site.
Without mayoral approval, Just Home could proceed, Mastro said.
However, council members were infuriated by what they viewed as a power grab by Adams and Mastro — marking one of several public disputes between the body and the outgoing mayor.
In the end, the council voted Sept. 25 to approve the project, despite Adams’ and Marmorato’s objections. Marmorato was overruled in a departure from member deference, whereby members typically vote in accordance with the local representative.
Marmorato was elected in 2023 largely due to her opposition to Just Home at Jacobi, but voters in the Nov. 2025 election chose not to grant her a second term.
A ‘win-win’?
After the vote, it was unclear whether Just Home would actually move to Brooklyn. City Hall, H+H, the Department of Corrections, Marmorato’s office and Marmorato herself were all unresponsive to multiple inquires from the Bronx Times.
But on Oct. 29, a spokesperson for Marmorato’s unsuccessful reelection campaign offered to put the Bronx Times in touch with Mastro, offering an exclusive on the development’s relocation to Brooklyn.
However, during the conversation with Mastro, he did not provide an address for the new site and offered no information that was not already publicly stated.
He said at the time that the project is “not going forward in the Bronx” and that it would move to an unspecified site within Council Member Sandy Nurse’s district. Mastro also said then —and reiterated in a Dec. 29 phone call with the Bronx Times— that the Brooklyn site would shelter many more people than the Jacobi site, with greater support from community members.
The new location would have approximately twice as many Just Home units and three times as many regular affordable units, which would be a “win-win,” he said. “This will happen this calendar year.”
But Nurse said no way, in a statement to the Bronx Times.
“The Just Home Project has already gone through extensive negotiations, hearings, and was voted on. Despite Randy Mastro’s anti-housing efforts to kill this project, nothing has changed,” she said.
Mastro identified the potential Brooklyn site as 1675 Broadway near Decatur Street, between Bushwick and Bed-Stuy, and said the nonprofit partner would be the Osborne Association.
However, approvals are not yet finalized, and it will be up to incoming mayor Mamdani to see it through, said Mastro, who resigned his position effective Dec. 31.
A statement from an Osborne Association spokesperson left an open question about whether Just Home would proceed at Jacobi, Brooklyn or both.
“Permanent, supportive housing for people returning from incarceration is a smart investment that promotes successful reentry, reduces recidivism, and allows those coming home to contribute to their communities. Osborne Association hopes that Just Home moves forward in the Bronx and in Brooklyn to meet the dire need for stable housing among people with justice involvement,” the statement said.
The future of Just Home at Jacobi remains unclear, as is whether or not the approvals process would need to completely restart under a new location or whether the new mayor can simply take charge.
Whatever the outcome, the Mamdani administration will have input from H+H leadership that is well familiar with Just Home. Mamdani recently announced that H+H President and CEO Mitchell Katz —who supported the project’s inception and later pressured City Council to delay the vote while a new location was secured— will continue under the new administration.
Reach Emily Swanson at eswanson@schnepsmedia.com or (646) 717-0015. For more coverage, subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram!
