A plan to house formerly incarcerated people with medical issues on an NYC Health + Hospitals campus in the East Bronx is once again coming to the front line of borough politics, with the project’s proponents and opponents gearing up for what will be a hotly discussed topic in the coming months.
The board of directors at NYC Health + Hospitals voted last week to officially approve their plan, called Just Home, marking the end of more than a year of the sometimes unruly public review process. Now, the project will move forward to the New York City Council, even with its sitting member’s opposition.
Bronx Republican Council Member Kristy Marmorato — who pulled off a shocking upset against the Council District 13 Democratic incumbent Marjorie Velázquez in November and just started her first term — had been staunch in her opposition to Just Home throughout the course of her City Council campaign. In fact, she told the Bronx Times when launching her bid for the District 13 seat that Just Home specifically was the impetus for her run.
Her chief of staff April Cardena told the Bronx Times on Feb. 1 that Marmorato remains opposed to the project, saying “she’s been very transparent” about her stance from the beginning, and will “continue to stand with” her constituents.
Originally announced by NYC Health + Hospitals and the city Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) in 2022, Just Home entails turning the empty building at 1900 Seminole Ave. on the Jacobi campus into permanent supportive housing for people leaving jail with complex medical needs. Some of those complex medical needs include conditions such as congestive heart failure, stage 4 cancer and end-stage renal disease.
The Fortune Society — a New York City-based nonprofit that aims to provide alternatives to incarceration and services to people leaving custody — is set to be the developer, manager and social service provider for the Just Home project.
In the past year-plus since it was introduced, however, Just Home has garnered both heightened citywide interest and a litany of opposition, both from community members and local politicos.
A July 2022 Morris Park Community Association meeting had riled up members of the public calling the potential tenants “animals,” yelling things like “No more housing for criminals!” That was before an infamous Bronx Community Board 11 public hearing in October 2022 over Just Home erupted into chaos, which included community members booing and shouting over proponents of the project. CB 11 later voted against it on an advisory basis and its ethics committee recommended an apology for conduct at the public hearing in October 2022.
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Council member deference
While the drama over the proposal has made headlines, perhaps the most interesting aspect of all is whether or not council members will override member deference regarding Just Home when push inevitably comes to shove.
Member deference describes the City Council tradition of voting alongside the presiding council member on land use matters in their own district. Simply put, if the District 13 council member votes “no” on a development in their own district, other council members follow suit with “no” votes.
In the case of Just Home, though, some are wondering whether or not Marmorato’s colleagues will indeed follow her lead if she votes to kill the project. Could they, or would they, give Just Home the green light anyway?
It happened back in 2021, when the City Council approved a new blood center on the Upper East Side of Manhattan even with the opposition of former local Council Member Ben Kallos, casting member deference aside for the first time in more than a decade, some outlets reported. Bronx Council Member Rafael Salamanca Jr., the chair of the Land Use Committee, was one of the members of the body who spearheaded that move back in 2021.
But Cardena told the Bronx Times on Feb. 1 that Marmorato’s not thinking about a potential member deference overhaul yet.
“To be completely frank, it’s not at the forefront … Our focus is very much on the present,” she said.
Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson has come out against Just Home in the days following NYC Health + Hospitals’ board vote, saying that while she supports affordable and supportive housing, development must also be “contextual” to the neighborhoods being built up.
“Unfortunately, I have seen some of the opposition to this project devolve into rude and threatening behavior, thinly veiled racism and unacceptable vitriol,” she said in a Jan. 31 statement.
But even so, the borough president said she still couldn’t cast her support. She instead wants to see the empty Jacobi building become a women’s health center or a blood center, she said.
“The city must do more to find permanent housing solutions for [formerly] incarcerated New Yorkers, particularly those who would otherwise be unhoused,” Gibson said. “However, I do not believe this project at this particular site is the correct way to move forward.”
State Assembly Members Nathalia Fernandez and John Zaccaro Jr. have also stated their opposition for Just Home on the record.
When asked about their feelings on the project’s potential failure without support from Marmorato, both NYC Health + Hospitals and the Fortune Society declined to comment.
The need for supportive housing
Even with Just Home’s opposition, city agencies and developers involved in the project are trudging along — hoping to convince the council that it could have larger positive impacts at a time when New York City is facing a housing shortage.
“We can all agree that the overall goal of Just Home is positive and that we all must do more to find permanent housing solutions for [formerly] incarcerated New Yorkers, particularly those who would otherwise be unhoused because their medical conditions make living in shelters impossible,” said NYC Health + Hospitals spokesperson Jeanette Merrill.
The Pelham Parkway section to the west of the Jacobi campus hosts well-maintained, old East Coast red brick homes — many of which appear to be single-family dwellings. Small apartment buildings cause the occasional break in the low-to-the-ground skyline, but they’re few and far between. On the walk from the Pelham Parkway stop off the 5 train to 1900 Seminole Ave. on Feb. 2, the Bronx Times spotted six parked Teslas.
According to data from the New York City Department of City Planning (DCP), District 13 has produced the least units of new housing, just 977, out of every council district in the Bronx from 2010 to 2022. In fact, the data shows that District 13 has completed the 6th lowest number of new housing units across every council district in the city in that same time frame. The only districts to produce fewer over the 12-year period were Queens’ Districts 23 and 30, Brooklyn’s Districts 43 and 46, and Manhattan’s District 10.
Proponents of Just Home point to the lack of new housing, especially supportive housing, as all the more reason to move along with the project. That was also the argument for supporters like the Open Hearts group — an organization that seeks to support houseless people — back in 2022, who called on then-Council Member Velázquez to back Just Home. The former District 13 Democrat was also against the project.
“Our city understands that housing is a human right, and this latest step toward the development of Just Home brings us closer to ensuring medically fragile people don’t experience homelessness,” said Fortune Society CEO and President Stanley Richards.
According to Council Speaker Adrienne Adams’ office, Just Home will have to first go through the Landmarks, Public Sitings and Dispositions Subcommittee, then to the Land Use Committee before it makes its way to the full council.
The speaker’s office told the Bronx Times there is no scheduled date yet for the initial hearing, but whenever the project makes its way onto the council agenda, it’s sure to amass interest for opponents and proponents alike.
“Just Home will create badly needed homes to support our city’s most vulnerable,” said HPD Press Secretary William Fowler. “In the middle of a housing crisis, we must keep fighting to house and support every New Yorker we can.”
This story was updated at 3:53 p.m. on Feb. 2 to correct the attribution for the statement from Fortune Society.
Reach Camille Botello at cbotello@schnepsmedia.com. For more coverage, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @bronxtimes
