Over the course of an hour, community members in favor and against Legacy House, a new supportive housing project in the City of Newburgh, voiced their comments on Tuesday, July 18 at the City of Newburgh Planning Board meeting.

The proposed project known as Legacy House is a proposed five-story, 50 unit supportive housing facility on Johnston Street owned and operated by Newburgh Ministry, Inc. Single studio apartments have been proposed to be built on the site with kitchens and bathrooms. The location for the project will be 17 to 19 Johnston Street, where currently a charred abandoned building stands. The name for the new facility drew inspiration from the religious sisters that first founded the ministry 40 years ago.

Colin Jarvis, Executive Director of the Newburgh Ministry, anticipates breaking ground for the project in Fall 2024. The facility is set to be equipped with 24 hour maintenance and security, supportive services such as financial assistance programming, crisis management, substance abuse counseling and social work services. Over a million dollars from the New York State Empire State Supportive Housing Initiative (ESSHI) Office and an invested $15 million has been put into the project according to Jarvis.

On Tuesday night, Assistant Corporation Counsel Jeremy Kaufman served as moderator for the public comment period. The city activity center welcomed community advocates, Johnston Street residents and all who wished to listen in and potentially deliver their comments on the project.

“I’d like to state my support for the project and for the Newburgh Ministry as a whole. I know perhaps we have differences of opinions but at the end of the day, there is still a great need [for housing],” said Mark Sanchez-Potter. “I think it is immoral to allow folks to live on the street.”

“This is not about housing for Newburgh residents. This is housing for New York State. So what this is going to do, is going to be bringing in more people, more homeless, these outside areas into Newburgh,” said Drew Kartiganer. “You’re going to get a whole bunch of criminals coming in here, who aren’t from Newburgh. I’m against this project because it’s gonna really screw up the neighborhood down there.”

“ I want us to be mindful of the stereotypes that are being portrayed, I want us to be mindful of the inflammatory language that is used to object to this project,” said Tamika Stewart. “This project is going to help support a whole different population of people.”

“I see a whole lot of stuff going on over there that’s not cool, I don’t like it. I don’t think they should be there but that’s my opinion,” said Keith Smith. “We don’t know these people that are coming in. We don’t know these people that are going in and going out.”

“I want to speak about the pandemic that’s happened in our hospitals. We’ve seen a lot of mental health, we’ve seen a lot of people get discharged and put on the streets, so this is giving them a way to go back into gainful employment,” said Angela Lane, Vice President of 1199. “So I’m 1,000 percent in support.”

“This isn’t something for tonight, this isn’t something for five years from now, this is something that is going to have an impact in the city in a generation from now,” said Martha White

“If we don’t create more affordable and accessible housing then we’re gonna have more people on the street,” said Doug Hovey, Executive Director of Independent Living Inc.

The housing project appeared before the Zoning Board of Appeals last month in June and would be returning on Tuesday, July 25 for a follow up meeting.