Zoh’s bringing inmates back home.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Monday revived the “Just Home” supportive housing project for ex-inmates in the Bronx that his predecessor Eric Adams tried to nix.
The move will bring more than 80 new apartments to Jacobi Medical Center for formerly incarcerated seniors who have complex medical needs beyond the capabilities of homeless shelters.
Mamdani said he found it fitting to announce the project on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
“We are not simply creating 83 new apartments and supporting those who are struggling, we are advancing the cause of justice,” he said during a news conference at Jacobi, flanked by city officials, advocates and former inmates.
“This is a project which will provide a rent-stabilized lease to every single tenant, and it will prove that our commitment to homeless New Yorkers, and those who need supportive housing, is anything but abstract. It is tangible and it is actionable.”
Just Homes’ future had been plunged into uncertainty last year when Adams, who previously supported the project, told City Council members he planned to change its location.
A letter from Adams’ First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro pointed to opposition in the local community, including now-former city Councilwoman Kristy Marmorato (R-Bronx), as the reason for the about-face.
Mastro instead pushed to move the project to Brooklyn.
City Council members blasted Adams’ rug pull as a tactic to score political points for his then-active, if clearly doomed, re-election campaign.
They voted to approve a 99-year sublease for the project, keeping it alive.
Mamdani’s maneuver showed his City Hall won’t try to hinder the project, unlike his predecessor.
Mitchell Katz, the president and CEO of Health + Hospitals, seemed to slyly shade Adams as he stood beside Mamdani.
“Wow, what a great mayor we have and what an amazing commitment,” he said, drawing laughs.
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