New York City Mayor Eric Adams was joined by New York State Governor Kathy Hochul for a groundbreaking ceremony for a $189 million affordable and supportive housing development in the Morris Heights neighborhood of the Bronx.
The Mayor and Governor announced the groundbreaking, with Starhill Phase 1 of the project featuring 326 affordable apartments, including 200 homes with supportive services for individuals and families experiencing homelessness.
“Over 326 new affordable apartments right here in Morris Heights,” said Gov. Hochul during the July 27 announcement. “326. This is phase one. It’s going to help address our chronic shortage of high quality homes, but also very important to me, over 200 of these are going to be for people who’ve been homeless, who experienced some of life’s challenges, whether it’s substance abuse or mental health challenges. They’ll be able to get to supportive services, not by trying to travel across town and go see somebody who might be able to help them someday, maybe in between their jobs, but right here on site. That to me is transformative.”
Mayor Adams similarly applauded the development initiative, calling it “another step forward,” in the effort to end homelessness.
“This hole in the ground [from the development site] is going to fill the hole in the hearts of people who felt the city did not belong to them,” Mayor Adams said during the groundbreaking ceremony. “This is a day of hope, and phase 1 of of the Starhill development is delivering affordable homes to New Yorkers and this is how we change lives. We are saying today with the 326 apartments that [everybody] is part of the American dream.”
Mayor Adams also praised the work that made this initiative possible, saying that the administration was fulfilling their obligation to help those who were at a disadvantage and did not have access to the same opportunities other New Yorkers have had.
Gov. Hochul also added that there would be future opportunities for disadvantaged and struggling New Yorkers to build even more affordable housing units.
“We also last week announced a construction at 1761 Walton on Mount Hope,” the Governor said during the press conference. “That’s a $55 million project with 103 units. We have invested over $1.6 billion over the last time, $1.6 billion and over 16,000 units and I’ll say we’re just getting warmed up. We’re nowhere near done. We have a lot to do, but this is an important start to make sure that hardworking New Yorkers can stay in their homes.”
Hochul also acknowledged the investments that made it possible for even more funding to be allocated to the Emergency Rental Assistance program.
“I’ll also say that our budget, and thank you for recognizing our historic investments in human services, in people, investments in people, we also put 800 million toward the Emergency Rental Assistance Program,” said Hochul. “What is that? It helps people from losing their homes because they could not make the rent payments. We also have subsidies for people to help with their fair housing testing and education, legal assistance for people who are on the verge of being evicted. So, we have a holistic approach, all of it geared toward one purpose: giving people the dignity of a beautiful home and allowing them to stay there.”
