The project was to be located on a vacant Jacobi property at 1900 Seminole Ave. in the Indian Village section of Morris Park, a residential neighborhood dominated by single-family homes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/20251204_141655.jpg\")
The back of the proposed Just Home site at 1900 Seminole Ave., located across the street from single-family homes. Photo by Emily Swanson
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Two homes along Seminole Ave. in the Indian Village section of Morris Park, pictured on Dec. 4, 2025. Photo by Emily Swanson<\/p>\n
The development was set to have 58 units for single patients exiting incarceration and identified as having long-term, incurable medical conditions requiring frequent treatment.<\/p>\n
The remaining 24 units would be regular affordable housing with preference for area residents.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
After it was announced, Community Board 11 meetings and public hearings on Just Home devolved into chaos<\/a>, shouting and name-calling. Residents opposed said that \u201ccriminals\u201d and \u201canimals\u201d<\/a> would make the neighborhood unsafe and should not take priority over other residents, and supporters of the development were shouted down and threatened.\u00a0<\/p>\n NYC Health + Hospitals approved Just Home at Jacobi in 2024, but it remained in limbo until an abruptly-announced council hearing<\/a> this year on Sept. 18, which drew both protestors and supporters.\u00a0<\/p>\n At that point, Mastro tried to block a full council vote, writing in a letter to the council that Just Home \u201cwill never go forward as currently constituted.\u201d<\/p>\n Mastro said the administration wanted the Jacobi building to be turned into supportive and affordable housing \u2014 but not for formerly incarcerated individuals, due to local opposition. He said the project application should be considered withdrawn and that City Hall and H+H were considering a different site.<\/p>\n Without mayoral approval, Just Home could proceed, Mastro said.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n However, council members were infuriated<\/a> by what they viewed as a power grab by Adams and Mastro \u2014 marking one of several public disputes between the body and the outgoing mayor.\u00a0<\/p>\n In the end, the council voted Sept. 25<\/a> to approve the project, despite Adams\u2019 and Marmorato\u2019s objections. Marmorato was overruled in a departure from member deference, whereby members typically vote in accordance with the local representative.<\/p>\n Marmorato was elected in 2023 largely due to her opposition to Just Home at Jacobi, but voters in the Nov. 2025 election chose not to grant her a second term.<\/p>\n A \u2018win-win\u2019?<\/p>\n After the vote, it was unclear whether Just Home would actually move to Brooklyn. City Hall, H+H, the Department of Corrections, Marmorato\u2019s office and Marmorato herself were all unresponsive to multiple inquires from the Bronx Times.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n But on Oct. 29, a spokesperson for Marmorato\u2019s unsuccessful reelection campaign<\/a> offered to put the Bronx Times in touch with Mastro, offering an exclusive on the development\u2019s relocation to Brooklyn.\u00a0<\/p>\n However, during the conversation with Mastro, he did not provide an address for the new site and offered no information that was not already publicly stated.\u00a0<\/p>\n He said at the time that the project is \u201cnot going forward in the Bronx\u201d and that it would move to an unspecified site within Council Member Sandy Nurse\u2019s district. Mastro also said then \u2014and reiterated in a Dec. 29 phone call with the Bronx Times\u2014 that the Brooklyn site would shelter many more people than the Jacobi site, with greater support from community members.\u00a0<\/p>\n The new location would have approximately twice as many Just Home units and three times as many regular affordable units, which would be a \u201cwin-win,\u201d he said. \u201cThis will happen this calendar year.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n But Nurse said no way, in a statement to the Bronx Times.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n \u201cThe Just Home Project has already gone through extensive negotiations, hearings, and was voted on. Despite Randy Mastro\u2019s anti-housing efforts to kill this project, nothing has changed,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Mastro identified the potential Brooklyn site as 1675 Broadway near Decatur Street, between Bushwick and Bed-Stuy, and said the nonprofit partner would be the Osborne Association.\u00a0<\/p>\n However, approvals are not yet finalized, and it will be up to incoming mayor Mamdani to see it through, said Mastro, who resigned his position effective Dec. 31.\u00a0<\/p>\n A statement from an Osborne Association spokesperson left an open question about whether Just Home would proceed at Jacobi, Brooklyn or both.\n<\/p>\n \u201cPermanent, supportive housing for people returning from incarceration is a smart investment that promotes successful reentry, reduces recidivism, and allows those coming home to contribute to their communities. Osborne Association hopes that Just Home moves forward in the Bronx and in Brooklyn to meet the dire need for stable housing among people with justice involvement,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n The future of Just Home at Jacobi remains unclear, as is whether or not the approvals process would need to completely restart under a new location or whether the new mayor can simply take charge.\u00a0<\/p>\n Whatever the outcome, the Mamdani administration will have input from H+H leadership that is well familiar with Just Home.\u00a0Mamdani recently announced<\/a> that H+H President and CEO Mitchell Katz \u2014who supported the project\u2019s inception and later pressured City Council to delay the vote while a new location was secured\u2014 will continue under the new administration.<\/p>\n Reach Emily Swanson at\u00a0eswanson@schnepsmedia.com<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0(646) 717-0015<\/a>. For more coverage, subscribe to our\u00a0newsletter<\/a>\u00a0and follow us on\u00a0Twitter<\/a>,\u00a0Facebook<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Instagram<\/a>!<\/p>\n \t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Untitled-design-10-1.jpg\")
In a letter to the City Council, outgoing First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro said Just Home would not proceed in the Bronx and would be relocated to Brooklyn.<\/p>\n