96 supportive and affordable homes coming to Hunts Point
Credit: The Doe Fund
A new housing development in Hunts Point will deliver 96 supportive and affordable homes for formerly unhoused New Yorkers. Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Monday broke ground on the Doe Fund’s Casanova Residence at 658-674 Casanova Street in the Bronx. Of the 96 homes, 38 affordable units will be available through the city’s housing lottery system, while the remaining 58 units will be reserved for vulnerable populations.
Best known for its “Ready, Willing & Able” work training program, the Casanova Residence marks the Doe Fund’s 13th affordable and supportive housing building, bringing the organization’s portfolio to more than 1,400 units spanning 1.2 million square feet across the five boroughs.
The supportive units will serve individuals and families with serious mental illness, substance use disorders or disabling medical conditions through the city’s 15/15 Supportive Housing Initiative.
Residents will have access to services including case management, adult basic education, computer skills and financial literacy classes, occupational courses, paid work training, job-search preparation, legal referrals and more.
Casanova Residence sits across the street from the Peninsula, a new housing development that is replacing the notorious Spofford Juvenile Detention Center. The Peninsula will also be home to the first city-owned grocery store, one of five city-owned grocery stores opening in every borough.
“This project is just one example of our broader efforts to rewrite the relationship between City Hall and the people of the Bronx,” Mamdani said during a groundbreaking ceremony for Casanova Residence on Monday. “Through our historic housing plan ‘Block by Block,’ we are taking a targeted approach to the lasting housing inequities that disproportionately affect those in this borough, holding bad landlords accountable and supporting organized tenants along the way.”
The mayor added: “As we break ground on Casanova Residences today, we are writing that new chapter for this corner. One where those who live here no longer experience neglect as a norm, but one where New Yorkers can instead go home to a decent, dignified space and where city government fulfills its fundamental responsibility to make that possible.”
Designed by Curtis + Ginsberg Architects, the building will also offer free broadband internet, a fitness center, landscaped outdoor space and dedicated community and service areas operated by the Doe Fund.
Investing in supportive housing is a central tenet of the Mamdani administration’s “Block by Block” housing plan. In the recently adopted city budget, the mayor committed to investing $1 billion over the next two fiscal years to create and preserve supportive housing, marking a 60 percent increase over the previous two fiscal years.
Earlier this year, the city also launched the Supportive Preservation Program, which provides dedicated funding and technical assistance to preserve and stabilize existing supportive housing, including developments financed through city, state and federal programs.
“Supportive housing plays a critical role in the city’s housing ecosystem, and I’m happy to mark this milestone with the Doe Fund, for future Casanova tenants and for Hunts Point. This project will help New Yorkers for decades to come,” Leila Bozorg, deputy mayor for housing and planning, said.
“We are investing in supportive and affordable housing at an unprecedented scale across the city, including through creating new housing like Casanova, and by providing the preservation assistance that many of our existing supportive housing residents deserve.”
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