Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced the “reactivation” of the Just Home supportive housing development at Jacobi Medical Center on Monday, bringing an end to years of controversy surrounding the project.
On the nineteenth day of his administration — and on the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday — Mamdani, announced that Just Home will remain at Jacobi, rather than Brooklyn, as former Mayor Eric Adams and First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro previously promised.
It also proceeds despite a newly-filed lawsuit in New York Supreme Court, brought by the Morris Park Community Association and Gina Caliendo. The suit maintains that it was illegal for the project to proceed without the Adams’ approval and that City Council did not complete a full environmental review to consider issues such as changes to neighborhood character and traffic.
Using a vacant Jacobi building at 1900 Seminole Ave., Just Home will produce 53 apartments for people exiting incarceration with serious medical illnesses, 24 affordable studio units on the NYC Housing Lottery and one apartment for a live-in superintendent. The nonprofit Fortune Society will provide onsite wraparound services for these individuals, who would not be able to live at regular shelters due to their ongoing medical needs.
Fortune Society said in a statement that it will work with H+H Correctional Health Services to identify people leaving jails who would be an appropriate fit for Just Home. The apartments will be for single people, mainly age 55 and over, who have serious medical conditions such as cancer, congestive heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), cirrhosis and end-stage renal disease.
Fortune Society also said that those who pose “a current risk of violence” or are otherwise inappropriate for independent, supportive housing will not be accepted. In addition, only those who have served their sentence and released out of incarceration by the courts will be eligible, meaning the nonprofit and H+H will play no role in determining whether someone should be released.
Mamdani entered the Jacobi Building 8 atrium to applause, cheers and hugs and said that Just Home will reduce recidivism and give formerly incarcerated people a second chance at life.
Mamdani said the project fits into his vision for the city, one that finds creative solutions and acts with compassion for those in need. In accordance with the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, he said Just Home is not only creating housing but “advancing the cause of justice.”
Stanley Richards, CEO and President of Fortune Society, said Just Home was personal for him, as someone who was born at Jacobi, grew up in Soundview and rebuilt his life after being incarcerated for robbery in the 1980s.
Just Home and similar developments that Fortune Society already operates, such as Castle Gardens in Harlem, are built around a “simple but profound idea: everyone deserves a home,” Richards said at the press conference.
The announcement that Just Home at Jacobi would proceed was a long time coming. Over years, it was forcefully opposed by residents of the Indian Village section of Morris Park, who argued that just Home would bring crime to the neighborhood.
In response, the Adams administration tried, on the eve of the council vote last fall, to block the project and move it to Council Member Sandy Nurse’s district in Brooklyn.
Nurse attended Mamdani’s press conference and told the Bronx Times that Adams and Mastro’s attempt to relocate Just Home demonstrated a misunderstanding of the city charter.
Because Just Home at Jacobi had already been approved by H+H and City Council, she said a “lot of legality” would have been required to kill the plan. They would have had to restart the entire approval process, which was not feasible, she said.
Nurse, who chairs the Committee on Civil and Human Rights and is a member of the Public Safety committee, said that Mastro called her shortly before his term ended “begging” to move Just Home to her district. But Nurse said she was pleased to see it happen at Jacobi.
“We already have our fair share” of supportive housing, for formerly incarcerated people and not, she said. Now, more neighborhoods must “step up” to bring similar developments into more communities, said Nurse.
‘What about us?’
Despite the long applause and enthusiasm surrounding Mamdani’s announcement, a few hecklers expressed their disappointment after press questions were addressed.
As the event ended, a woman standing off to the side said loudly that neighborhood property values would go down because of Just Home. “What about us? We worked our asses off to buy our homes.”
Public Advocate Jumaane Williams approached the group of three women, but one called Williams a “liar” and flipped the middle finger as the group left.
Meanwhile, Mamdani’s commitment to Just Home was applauded by housing advocacy groups, including Open New York, whose executive director said today’s announcement “rights a wrong by the last administration” and brings affordable homes to an area that has created among the city’s lowest number of new affordable units over the last decade.
“To end our housing shortage, we need the participation of every community and every branch of government,” Annemarie Gray said in a statement.
“This project is an act of compassion and hope, as we create the bedrock of affordable housing and services for formerly-incarcerated New Yorkers with complex medical needs.”
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!
