Mayor Zohran Mamdani: Good afternoon, everyone. I want to say thank you [for making] this day possible. Thank you, Fortune Society. Thank you to Health + Hospitals. And thank you to the elected officials who made today possible in the months and years prior to this moment. And I’m proud to say that [Councilwoman] Nurse is also here with us. Thanks to her for being one of those. We are together here to announce the reactivation of Just Home, a first of its kind housing initiative that promises to transform the lives of those that it serves.  

But I don’t need to tell anyone that this day was far from promised. We stand here only because of the hard work of so many whose names I have shared as well as those that I have not, advocates and activists in the Bronx and as well as across this city. Only because of the untiring work done by so many in the Council who believe that this project could be won despite the opposition and only because of New Yorkers’ refusal to abandon the most vulnerable among us and only also because of the incredibly talented public servants that I am proud to call a part of my administration.  

It feels fitting, frankly, that we are celebrating this progress on the day set aside to remember a man who dedicated his life to fighting for the downtrodden. Because make no mistake, as we reactivate the Just Home Supportive Housing Project, we are not simply creating 83 new apartments and supporting those who are struggling. We are advancing the cause of justice.  

I think of what Dr. King said in his Three Evils [Of Society] speech when he called for our nation to undergo a revolution of values. That revolution, he said, “Will soon cause us to question the fairness and justice of many of our past and present policies.” True compassion, he said, “Is more than flinging a coin to a beggar. It understands that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring.” 

I know that many of us have no difficulty questioning the fairness and justice of many of our city’s past policies and those who pursued them. But I seek not to dwell on questions of blame. I seek instead to pursue that rule of true compassion, to focus City Hall’s attention on the restructuring that so many of our fellow New Yorkers have called out for so long. Because today, as we stand together near the future site of Just Home at Jacobi Hospital, we are doing exactly that. This initiative is a testament to the new city that we are building together. One that uplifts those among us who have struggled the most, one that is innovative and creative in its solutions, and one that does not shy away from the challenges that we face.  

If you do not mind, I would like to take a moment to extol this project’s virtues, because there are many. It is comprised of 100 percent affordable housing. It will create 83 apartments on this campus, apartments which will support New Yorkers who have medical conditions that leave it impossible for them to be cared for in shelter, who have a history of cycling through the criminal justice system, [and] who have too long been deprived of the external support that has been proven time and time again to reduce recidivism and to improve outcomes.  

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. I know that we have walked a long, hard, contentious path to arrive where we are today.  

And my sincere belief is that soon, Just Home will be seen as clear evidence of New York’s commitment to a new era where every one of our neighbors, even those who have made mistakes in their past, is entitled to dignity and safety and to a home that they can call their own.  

And I thank all of those who refuse to abandon any New Yorker who calls this city home, and all those partners who are standing alongside me in this moment, who are sitting in the crowd in front of me and those beyond the walls of this building, who worked together to make today not only possible, but inevitable. Thank you so much, and I would like to call up Dr. Mitchell Katz.  

Dr. Mitchell Katz, President and CEO, NYC Health + Hospitals: Wow, what a great mayor we have, and what an amazing commitment, right? For those of us who’ve spent our careers working on trying to take care of the most vulnerable, Mr. Mayor, it’s great to have you and to know that in the next [few] years we can really expand our programs to help people who need it the most. So I welcome all of you first to Jacobi Hospital, a place where lives are saved and healed every day by dedicated nurses and doctors and social workers and the people who support them. So it’s a great hospital.  

As a primary care doctor, I know that the most important prescription for my unhoused patients is housing. It’s a permanent solution that changes. Unlike blood tests, hospitalizations and MRI scans, housing changes the arc of someone’s life, and that’s why we’re so glad to be here, and why we’re so glad that the mayor has affirmed his support for this amazing program.  

And I want to tell you, Mr. Mayor, we got land, and we want to house people. We see that housing is part of the health continuum, and we want to be at the forefront. We want to use our land in order to house our patients, and we look incredibly forward to the next few years with you. Thank you. 

Mayor Mamdani: And I now have the privilege of calling up our Public Advocate, Jumaane Williams. 

Public Advocate Jumaane Williams: Peace and blessings, Love and Light to everybody. Happy MLK Day. I’m honored to be here. I can’t believe I’m old enough to say this now, but early in my career, I started as a tenant organizer, housing organizer, understanding the intersections of public safety and housing were critical. And so to finally have a mayor that gets it, not just in words and action, it’s just an awesome place to be. And Just Homes is about dignity. It’s about recognizing that seniors who are experiencing incarceration and homelessness [who] deserve the same safety, same stability, and respect as any other New Yorker.  

For too long, this project was stalled by fear-based opposition that treated people as problems instead of the neighbors that they are. Restarting Just Homes is a statement that our city chooses humanity over exclusion. Supportive housing works. We know it works. It’s data to back it up. It keeps people housed, improves health outcomes, and makes communities safer. And it is far more effective and far more compassionate than cycling people through shelters, hospitals, and jails.  

And for those who don’t watch the numbers, you’ve heard it’s cheaper as well. 83 deeply affordable homes may not solve our housing crisis on their own, but for the seniors who will live here, it means stability, it means independence, and a real chance to age with dignity. If we are serious about addressing homelessness, about re-entry, and about public safety, we must invest in supportive housing across the city.  

Just Homes shows what’s possible when we lead with courage and we lead with care. I’ve always found it fascinating that the thing people need the most is housing and work, and by law, we’ve actually tried to prevent returning citizens and residents from that the most, which makes no sense.  

MLK died in an economic justice battle, and some of that economic justice is about housing. So once again, we’ve waited for a long time for a mayor not to just be about words but about actions, about making difficult things and having difficult conversations, but understanding what it means to keep us safe. We must have housing for everybody. So thank you so much for that. I appreciate the opportunity to be here. 

Mayor Mamdani: Now please join me in welcoming Stanley Richards. 

Stanley Richards, President and CEO, The Fortune Society: Good afternoon, everyone. I think I want to start by reflecting on the inauguration of our new mayor, where public advocate Jumaane Williams said he waited 40-something years to speak to a young Black boy. Jumaane, I waited 65 years to hear that, that I am enough. I have always been enough, that I am valued, that my mistakes and incarceration and trials and tribulation in my life don’t define me. And on this day, when we come together to lift up Just Home, it is a moment for me of reflection and appreciation.  

So thank you, Mayor Mamdani, for your bold commitment to building housing and seeing people not for what they did, but for who they could be. So it is an honor to stand here with you and your administration. I also want to thank the City Council for their bold leadership and having Council Member Sandy Nurse here. As Chair of the Criminal Justice Committee, she has always been an advocate and a supporter of justice, true justice, and I am so thankful for her.  

I want to also thank our advocates and supporters who have been here throughout this process of getting Just Home launched. You see, Just Home is one simple but profound idea. Everyone deserves a home. This initiative will create permanent supportive and affordable housing for people who are coming out of incarceration with complex medical needs who would otherwise be homeless.  

Right now, too many people are stuck in shelters, on the streets, or even on Rikers Island because there is nowhere safe and stable for them to go. Once this building is renovated, it will provide a mix of permanent and supportive housing with on-site case management, care management, and wraparound services under one roof. This model is rooted in what the Fortune Society has experienced over decades of providing services in New York City.  

When people have stable housing and robust support, they are far more likely to become positive contributing neighbors, and that’s what we should be all striving for. The people who live here are some of the city’s most vulnerable neighbors, New Yorkers returning from incarceration who are medically fragile, who have paid their debt to society, and who deserve the dignity of recovering and rebuilding their lives in a safe home instead of a jail cell or crowded shelter bed.  

Just Homes will keep them connected to care, to community, and their families, and in doing so will make us all safe. You see, for me, this is not abstract work. I was born at Jacobi Hospital and grew up in Soundview Projects, so this is my birthplace. In 1961, this hospital gave birth to me, and when we close and open the doors of Just Home, it will give hope and stability to 83 New Yorkers, and we are thankful for that.  

To now stand here as President and CEO of the Fortune Society, working with all of you to transform this building into a place of healing, stability, and second chances is deeply personal and profoundly meaningful. Together, we are proving that when this city chooses housing, care, and community, we choose safety, dignity, and justice for every New Yorker.  

We look forward to ensuring that this building lives up to the promise of its name, a Just Home for all of us. So now it is my pleasure to introduce someone who lives in one of Fortune Society’s buildings and who has been a long-time advocate for this project and dignity for all, my friend, Helen Taylor. 

Helen Taylor: Good afternoon, and thank you for the opportunity today. I am so grateful to be here to celebrate with the mayor and Fortune Society about Just Home. I left my wonderful supportive housing apartment to be here with you on this very cold afternoon, and I want to share why my apartment is so very important to me. I want to share why other people who have been incarcerated, like myself, need to have access to supportive housing.  

This is especially important for the people who have health issues and will not be able to survive in a shelter, [let] alone on the streets. I am lucky that I am now in good health thanks to my supportive house and Fortune Society. But there were times when I was not. Living in supportive housing makes a huge difference. As I always say, supportive housing saved my life.  

Having my apartment, my very first apartment I ever had in my life, has made a difference in my life today because it is a step closer to fulfilling my mission to live better in life. It’s not just a place to live, it’s a tremendous amount of support that may exist. Acknowledging I am a part of a community, my story should not be unique.  

I’m certain multiple–everyone, everyone should have access to supportive housing. Access to the life they want and deserve to live. A life of health, safety, and dignity. Thank you again for the opportunity to speak. And now, let’s celebrate Just Home becoming reality. Thank you. Love is love. 

Mayor Mamdani: Just before we start with questions, I do also just want to take a moment to celebrate the incredible team in my administration that have helped to make today possible. So if you can please join me in a round of applause for our deputy mayor for Housing and Planning, Leila Bozorg. Our deputy mayor for Health and Human Services, Helen Arteaga. Our new heads of HPD and DOB, Ahmed Tigani [and] Dina Levy.  

I want to take this moment to say their names because so often in politics we lose sight of the people who are making this possible behind the scenes. For this announcement to take place, it requires meetings, it requires pushes, it requires a fluency amidst an ambition and an imagination. And I’m so lucky in each of these incredible New Yorkers we have exactly that, that can make a day like today possible. But we can absolutely start with questions now.  

Question: What’s the total number of folks, if you could have a count for all, who need these sorts of apartments? And what does it say that if you recall which people are–or need for apartments–about how easy apartments [inaudible]?  

Mayor Mamdani: You know, I think what it says more is that even to build 83 units in this city has taken so much struggle. It should not be that way. This should be something that is far more straightforward. We said over the course of the campaign that we wanted to build 200,000 truly affordable homes over the next 10 years. We absolutely intend to fulfill that.  

This is an example of the scale of progress that was being held up for years, progress that we will now deliver, and then return back to the scale of the crisis at hand for each and every New Yorker.  

Question: That’s 84 individuals or will they have roommates in the apartment?  

Mayor Mamdani: These are single apartments. Single units.  

Question: If you can have as many apartments as you could, how many apartments would you need for this [inaudible]? 

Mayor Mamdani: What I can tell you is that we want to build as much as possible across this city. We want to build for those who call this city home and those who would love to call this city home if only it were more affordable.  

Question: It was said by Dr. Katz that he doesn’t like parking lots, and there was talk of more buildings coming. Are there going to be more buildings coming, the second building or the third building, as you said during the talks? Sure. 

Dr. Katz: Well, we know that at Health + Hospitals we have land, and now we have a mayor and an administration that is committed to housing. We want to use that land. As you say, you can always build a multi-story parking garage on a small piece of land instead of surface parking, and use that land to build housing.  

The land is there, and often the additional benefit, like for Just Home to be on a hospital campus, where people who have serious illness can easily get care, is a tremendous advantage. So, the combination of a hospital campus with people who have illness, we think, is a great marriage.  

Question: [Inaudible] more buildings.  

Dr. Katz: Obviously, our mayor has made [it] clear. 

Mayor Mamdani: We’re here to talk about today’s announcement, but what I will absolutely commit to you is, as there are more, as there will be in our plans to build more housing across New York City, we will absolutely be communicating that. 

Question: You’ve talked about [inaudible] housing shortage in the city. Do you plan on [inaudible]? 

Mayor Mamdani: I was wondering where the segue was. I haven’t made any plans to attend a gala at this time. What I can tell you, however, is that the housing crisis is going to take all of us. It’s going to take the private sector, building in a way that they haven’t been able to for years before. It’s also going to take the public sector, understanding that we need to build truly affordable housing. I’m so thankful to have partners in government and our public advocate and our councilwoman who are here, who have long been proponents of what it looks like to make for a more affordable city.  

Question: Speaking of housing, you know, the first day on your inauguration you announced the city intervening on the Pinnacle lawsuit. Last week you were handed a loss on that and that sale went through. Do you feel like you failed, especially because of your focus? I mean, what do you say to anybody else that you’re looking to intervene on when it comes to these housing issues, that you will be successful if your very first one you were not able to actually get into? 

Mayor Mamdani: So after I was inaugurated on January 1st, I went to meet with tenants of Pinnacle Realty and there was one woman who gave me a tour of her apartment and she took me into her bathroom and she said, “This is the kind of state of disrepair that I’m living with.” And I could see and feel the rust quite literally coming off in my hands. I asked her, “How long have you been living in conditions like this?” She pointed to her son, who’s more than 20 years old. She said, “Before he was born.” 

Because we decided to intervene in that case, the new owner of these apartments has committed to $30 million in repairs and rectifying the violations. I consider that to be a victory and I consider it to be an example of what it can look like when you have an administration that looks to use every tool at its disposal to make a case for those that the corridors of power have often overlooked. 

Question: Just after you were elected, the Adams administration offered reinstatement to city workers who lost their jobs under the 2021 vaccine mandates. That process has apparently not moved forward. There are numerous workers who met the December 5th deadline to request reinstatement. We’re reporting that they’ve heard nothing from the city since then.  

And there’s a rule change required for some of those reinstatements that has not been sent from DCAS or your office up to the Civil Service Commission for approval. So my question for you is, will your administration, given your support for labor and workers, be expediting that process and letting those workers know when they can expect to move forward with reinstatements? And will you be expediting the rule change being sent to the Civil Service Commission? 

Mayor Mamdani: I appreciate you flagging this issue. This is something that we’ll follow up on and let you know. Thank you very much. 

Question: The New York Post came out with a story yesterday revealing some of the tweets that your chief equity officer sent prior to being appointed to her post. I wanted to know did those come to your administration’s attention during the vetting process and any comment you may have?  

Mayor Mamdani: Yes, the vetting process is a complete one that presents all this information to us in advance of any hiring decisions. And I can tell you that Afua has built a career where she has been dedicated to New Yorkers who have often not been thought of within the corridors of power, whether they be at the city level or the state level or the federal level. And she has frankly been a brilliant addition to not only our campaign, our transition, but now also our administration. And I have the utmost confidence in her ability to fulfill the mission to make this a city that each and every New Yorker can afford, no matter their race, their religion, where they were born, [and] where they come from. Thank you so much. 

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