NEWYORK: Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced his administration’s commitment to advancing Just Home, a first-of-its-kind housing initiative to serve formerly incarcerated New Yorkers with complex medical needs on the campus of NYC Health + Hospitals/Jacobi.
The 100% affordable housing project will create 83 new apartments in an underutilized building on the Bronx hospital grounds. In addition, later this week, the NYC Health Department will update a Request for Proposals as part of the Justice-Involved Supportive Housing (JISH) initiative to put the city on a path to more than 350 supportive homes for justice-involved New Yorkers in the coming years.
The previous mayoral administration stated that it would not move forward with Just Home, despite approval by the Health + Hospitals Board of Directors in 2024 and by the New York City Council in September 2025. The Fortune Society will serve as the developer and service provider for Just Home.
“On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, we honor a leader who named poverty as a moral crisis. Today, I’m proud to commit my administration to Just Home—an initiative that brings housing, health care, and justice together. By housing New Yorkers who are too often left on the streets or shuttled through emergency rooms, Just Home meets our housing crisis with dignity,” said Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
Just Home will expand multiple citywide initiatives that advance the Mayor’s goals, including the city’s Justice-Involved Supportive Housing (JISH) program and NYC Health + Hospitals’ Housing for health opens in a new tab —and his commitment to use public sites to create housing for New Yorkers in need. Just Home has received $1 million in annual funding through JISH, an evidence-driven permanent, supportive housing model that results in fewer returns to jail, less shelter use, and improved health outcomes.
In accordance with the JISH model, supportive housing tenants at Just Home will receive intensive, wraparound services from Fortune Society’s licensed clinical social workers and dedicated peer workers.
Demonstrating the city’s further commitment to housing for justice-involved New Yorkers, the NYC Health Department is releasing later this week an updated Request for Proposals for the program, which will create up to 190 new homes for justice-involved New Yorkers. Between Just Home, and the new Request for Proposals, the Mamdani administration is moving to bring the total number of supportive housing units for justice-involved New Yorkers to over 350 homes.
Just Home is also part of NYC Health + Hospitals’ Housing for Health initiative, which helps homeless patients and their families find housing. In 2025, Housing for Health provided services to nearly 1,600 homeless New Yorkers, including placing over 600 individuals in housing and supporting nearly 430 patients with medical respite. At Just Home, Fortune’s on-site case managers will work with Jacobi’s medical providers to coordinate outpatient care just steps away from their home.
“Just Home is not just 83 apartments—it is a symbol of our commitment to meeting the housing needs of every New Yorker. Supportive housing can be a lifeline for many of our neighbors, and is key to building a healthier, more affordable city,” said Leila Bozorg, Deputy Mayor for Housing and Planning.
“We’ll continue working to deliver affordable and supportive housing across the five boroughs and ensure that every neighborhood is a part of our housing growth.”
“Housing is health care, and this project will make a real difference in the lives of New Yorkers in need of care,” said Dr. Helen Arteaga, Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services.
“People living in permanent housing have better health outcomes and live longer than those living unstably. When we invest in affordable and supportive housing, we invest in a healthier city and better outcomes for all New Yorkers.”
“For our patients experiencing homelessness, so many of the problems we see in primary care can be addressed with a simple prescription: housing,” said NYC Health + Hospitals President and CEO Mitchell Katz, MD.
“NYC Health + Hospitals has used our land to create affordable and supportive housing for hundreds of New Yorkers through our Housing for Health initiative, and we are eager to add the Just Home project to that list. Our patients leaving Rikers need our support to rebuild their lives. We are deeply grateful to Mayor Mamdani for his commitment to this project and the people who will one day call it home.”
“Advancing Just Home reaffirms this administration’s commitment to the principle that decent, quality housing is a basic human right, regardless of past history. Moreover, creating stable and affordable homes for individuals who are suffering through severe illness as they transition back into the community is both fiscally responsible and morally imperative,” said Dina Levy, incoming NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) Commissioner.
“I applaud Mayor Mamdani’s actions to support the success and health of previously incarcerated New Yorkers,” said NYC Health Department Acting Commissioner Dr. Michelle Morse.
“We must work to end the disproportionate incarceration of people of color in New York City. In parallel, New Yorkers with a history of incarceration must get access to stable housing. Housing first is a tremendously effective health and justice intervention. The NYC Health Department is proud to contribute to that commitment through a Request for Proposals to build up to 190 additional supportive homes for New Yorkers with a history of incarceration. Housing is a human right. Our newly published research demonstrates that people impacted by incarceration are more likely to experience serious psychological distress, difficulty functioning, and social isolation—all of which are addressed by supportive housing. Within our Justice Involved Supportive Housing program, 87% of supportive housing residents with a history of incarceration have no arrests on their record while living in supportive housing.”
“From our earliest days providing care in our city’s jails, we at Correctional Health Services recognized the critical need for stable and supportive housing, close to medical care, that would allow some of our most clinically vulnerable patients to leave Rikers and return to a safe and dignified life in the community,” said Senior Vice President for NYC Health + Hospitals/Correctional Health Services Dr. Patsy Yang.
“Dr. Mitchell Katz has been an unflinching supporter of this ground-breaking initiative from his first day at Health + Hospitals, and we could not have even imagined a stronger, more closely aligned partner in this endeavor than The Fortune Society. Finally, and at long last, we would not be here today without the vision and conviction of Mayor Mamdani and his Administration that this project—which will offer not simply housing but a home and a fresh start for some of our most traditionally marginalized neighbors—is the just and right thing to do.”
“Housing for Health has seen firsthand that our patients living in quality safe housing are healthier and happier. Leveraging our public land assets is a perfect opportunity to make this a reality,” said Leora Jontef, Senior Assistant Vice President Housing and Real Estate, NYC Health + Hospitals.
“Supportive housing developed and operated by experienced organizations like the Fortune Society, combined with connections to nearby health care at our facilities, are an ideal combination to support our most vulnerable patients.”
“We are deeply grateful that the new mayoral administration is showing its strong support for the Just Home project at Jacobi Hospital. The City Council’s overwhelming approval late last year was a crucial step toward a more compassionate and equitable city, and this administration’s commitment to follow through ensures we can move forward,” said Stanley Richards, President and CEO of The Fortune Society.
“We offer our sincerest thanks to Mayor Mamdani, NYC Health + Hospitals, and the Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) for their partnership and support. When it opens, this innovative development will address a significant concern by providing supportive, evidence-based solutions for New Yorkers with complex medical needs who would otherwise be homeless. The Just Home project underscores our collective commitment to advancing health equity and creating positive, transformative change for our city.”
Once Just Home opens, potential tenants—with such complex medical needs as cancer, cirrhosis, and congestive heart failure—will first be identified by Correctional Health Services, a division of NYC Health + Hospitals that directly provides high-quality health care to people in the City’s custody.
