City Council approves 99-year sublease for ex-inmate housing in the Bronx amid mayoral clash

The New York City Council approved a 99-year sublease to house Just Home, a supportive housing program for ex-Rikers inmates, on the Jacobi Hospital campus in Morris Park, Bronx.

The measure came as the Adams administration pressed to alter the project’s site after previously backing the Bronx location. A letter sent to the Council the night before the vote indicated the mayor planned to move the project to Brooklyn, near Broadway Junction, citing local opposition to the Bronx site. The Council ignored the request and proceeded with the Bronx location. Speaker Adrienne Adams described the mayor and his First Deputy Randy Mastro as 'incompetent' and 'not relevant' given Adams's reelection bid.

Councilmember Crystal Hudson said the last-minute move by the mayor was not leadership. 'If we claim to care about deference then we must practice it across the board,' Marmarato said of the call to relocate. 'To vote yes on this today is to ignore the work and to ignore the very principle this body claims to defend.'

The measure passed 36-9 with three abstentions. Mastro said the administration would continue pursuing a relocation and argued the city could triple affordable housing output in Adams's remaining months in office. 'In the coming weeks and months, while we’re all still here in this hall, you’re going to see three times the supportive and affordable housing produced by this administration, two times the Just Home housing produced,' he said.

Adams, who was in Williamsburg for an event on Thursday, called the Council's move grandstanding. 'We were able to come up with a better deal for us, and we are able to make sure that project went forward,' he said. 'Now what the City Council is doing is just grandstanding.'

Marmarato and other Bronx opponents argued that the local community had not been adequately consulted and that the Bronx site was not the right location for a project of this scale. The proposal, known as Just Home, intends to provide supportive services and housing for ex-inmates reintegrating into society, with Jacobi Hospital campus identified as a long-considered site for mixed-use development and public services.

The plan represents a broader push to expand affordable housing and wraparound services for people exiting the criminal-justice system, though it has been politically contentious since its inception. Supporters say Just Home would provide critical stabilization supports that reduce recidivism, while opponents argue that the project should have had more community input and that its location should be reconsidered in light of neighborhood concerns.