After about two years in limbo, the supportive housing project known as Just Home in Morris Park was again debated at a Sept. 18 City Council hearing, where several residents made it clear they do not want it in its proposed location.
Nearly 40 residents testified at the hearing of the Subcommittee on Landmarks, Public Sitings and Dispositions, and some rallied outside beforehand to demand that the project be moved elsewhere, if it is to exist at all.
Just Home would provide permanent supportive housing in a vacant building on the Jacobi Hospital campus for approximately 58 people exiting incarceration with serious medical conditions. The remaining approximately 25 apartments would be affordable units with preference for Community Board 11 residents.
The proposal marked a turning point in East Bronx politics and has come under fierce controversy since Mayor Eric Adams’ administration announced it in 2022.
Just Home provided the impetus for Republican Kristy Marmorato’s election to represent District 13 in a stunning defeat of Democrat Marjorie Velázquez, who faced backlash for her support of the Bruckner Boulevard rezoning, which many assumed would translate to support for Just Home.
Over the past four years, Marmorato has maintained strong opposition to Just Home in its current location. She said on Sept. 18 that the city did not engage with local residents and has not clarified what criteria would be used to select tenants.
“From day one, there has been a lack of transparency, a lack of honesty and a lack of community engagement and outreach,” Marmorato said at the pre-hearing rally.
She said is generally committed to affordable and supportive housing and is looking into “alternate locations within our district” for Just Home.” However, she said her constituents have been “lied to, time and time again.”
Representatives for H+H, which approved Just Home in early 2024, did not attend the hearing and instead sent written testimony from President and CEO Dr. Mitch Katz, who said the city is looking into “a new proposal that would identify a different location for Just Home and also deliver supportive and affordable housing at the Jacobi Hospital site.”
“We hope to come back to the Council in the near future with a plan that would continue to deliver the Just Home project and affordable and supportive housing on the Jacobi campus,” the testimony said.
However, subcommittee members were furious at the unavailability of city representatives to take questions about the project.
Chair Kamillah Hanks called their absence “completely unacceptable,” and Justin Brannan angrily crumpled Katz’s testimony. “They don’t care about New York, they care about their own power,” he said.
‘An insult to New Yorkers’
Whether Mayor Adams still supports the project he previously touted is now unclear, as First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro has reportedly been working to block Just Home in its current iteration.
Towards the end of the hearing, Deputy Mayor Tiffany Raspberry and Senior Advisor Diane Savino took to the dias to reiterate Katz’ testimony and said the city requested to postpone the hearing as it looked for potential new locations.
But the request came just the day before, which made it impossible to postpone, said Majority Leader Amanda Farías.
In a statement, Council Speaker Adrienne Adams slammed the administration for the holdup.
“Mayor Adams’ administration once again blocking city agencies from testifying at a public hearing is an insult to New Yorkers and our local democracy. Requesting a date change less than 24 hours before a scheduled hearing is disrespectful to the public,” she said in a statement after the hearing.
The speaker pointed to the Elizabeth Street Garden fiasco in June, where Adams and Mastro blocked a proposal to create more than 120 housing units for low-income seniors in favor of a different plan to create more housing units nearby.
With Just Home, “Mayor Adams and Randy Mastro appear to be once again seeking to block affordable housing, while advancing their misleading ballot proposals to take away communities’ power that secures more affordable housing and investments for neighborhoods,” said Adrienne Adams.
Pro-housing groups also criticized the administration’s handling of the hearing.
“Mastro’s ‘delay’ of Just Home is a flagrantly political maneuver meant to prioritize the preferences of a wealthy few over the urgent needs of tens of thousands of New Yorkers to further the Mayor’s doomed re-election campaign,” said Annemarie Gray, executive director of Open New York, in a statement. A representative of Open New York spoke in support of Just Home at the hearing.
“This action will not make our city safer or fairer,” Gray said. “Instead it will worsen our housing shortage, and deny dignified supportive homes for New Yorkers working to rebuild their lives.”
‘Community first, inmates second’
The overall tone of council hearing remained calm, even though opposition to Just Home was strong and somewhat outnumbered support.
This was in stark contrast to past meetings, such as the October 2022 Community Board 11 public hearing that erupted into chaos, shouting and insults.
In the roughly two and a half hour hearing, 21 people spoke against Just Home and 16 in favor. On both sides were many who have stood firm since the beginning.
Michael Kaess of Morris Park, who has taken the minority stance of approval on several East Bronx proposals, including Bruckner Boulevard and Metro-North, showed up to testify at the hearing and witness the rally.
Attendees included the same people who blocked his camera, called him names and threatened to give him COVID in 2022, Kaess told the Bronx Times.
He also noted that several are named plaintiffs in the ongoing lawsuit against City of Yes, the Adams administration’s sweeping rezoning plan to create more affordable housing in neighborhoods that have typically lagged behind — such as the East Bronx.
‘We have to build housing for everyone,” Kaess said. “Even now, Morris Park isn’t doing its fair share.”
During the hearing, he said the city “cannot afford to start from scratch” with Just Home at a new location. People leaving incarceration with serious medical needs are “completely unserved by existing housing options,” making the Jacobi campus an “ideal” site, Kaess said.
Diana Finch, who lives on the west side of CB11, also testified in support of Just Home, as she has in the past.
“Formerly incarcerated people live all among us,” whether known or not, Finch told the Bronx Times. “It’s really not something to be afraid of.”
But others disagreed, expressing fears for residents’ safety and the need for housing other vulnerable populations — such as seniors and veterans — which they said should take priority.
At the rally, Bernadette Ferrara held a sign reading “Community first, inmates second.”
The Jacobi building should be used for another purpose that creates a “win-win” for all, she said. “It’s not because we say no to everything,” Ferrara said. “The issue is the location.”
At the hearing, one resident testified that Just Home would put Jacobi staff at risk as they leave late-night shifts. “Who will help them when one of the residents assaults them?”
Opposition also came from a homeowner on Seminole Ave., the same street as the proposed site. She said the concept of Just Home “fills me with worry” and said it was “too great of a risk to take.”
While she said incarcerated people are capable of changing their ways, “I don’t believe my child’s safety, or the peace of mind for every person here, should be the price of that.”
“Don’t make us live in fear in our own backyards,” she said.
Vision for Just Home
Stanley Richards, president and CEO of the Fortune Society, testified that projects like Just Home “make all of us safer” because they reduce recidivism and ensure easy access to support services.
He said Just Home residents would be likely over age 55 and described them as “folks with complex medical needs who are homeless” and “cannot be managed in the shelter,” based on his discussions with H+H. The city has previously cited examples of serious conditions they may have, such as congestive heart failure, end-stage renal disease and stage 4 cancers.
Richards said the proposed building would need about $40 million in major repairs to restructure the number of units and create amenities such as a community room, laundry room and nurses’ station. The construction could take two to three years, but when completed, would bring dignity and ongoing support to residents, Richards said.
Marmorato asked several questions and raised concerns about whether residents would be allowed to smoke on hospital grounds and even raised the possibility of Just Home tenants finding partners, having children and attempting to stay in the studio units.
Richards emphasized that Just Home residents would have the same rights as any tenant on a lease. While they would have freedom within their homes, the building would have 24-hour security staff and cameras, and residents would check in with case managers and medical teams multiple times per week, he said.
Richards said the Fortune Society has “not been invited back” to the community since the heated CB11 meeting in 2022, which brought out “a level of ugliness that I haven’t seen,” as he described it at the time.
Despite the insults of the past, Richards said he is still committed to making Just Home work. “For us, being a good neighbor is as good as being a good service provider,” he said.
Reach Emily Swanson at eswanson@schnepsmedia.com or (646) 717-0015. For more coverage, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @bronxtimes
