Cardinal Dolan accounces huge
affordable housing portfolio
BY ALEX MITCHELL
Cardinal Timothy Dolan and
Catholic Charities announced a
massive, affordable housing portfolio
that has fi ve out of six sites
in the Bronx on Monday, April 8.
Dolan spread the good news
during a ceremony held at one of
the locations, St. Augustine Terrace
on 571 E. 167th Street, where
he joined Councilwoman Vanessa
Gibson and NYC First Lady
Chirlane McCray in announcing
the 866 affordable units for the
borough, 112 of which are at St.
Augustine.
The other housing sites will
be: St. Vincent de Paul Senior
Residence, 89 units at 909 Beck
Street, in Longwood; Second
Farms, 319 units at1932 Bryant
Avenue in West Farms; St. Philip
Neri’s 186 units at 3054 and 3069
Villa Avenue in Bedford Park;
and Christopher Court , 160 units
at 2830 Park Avenue in Melrose,
besides the one Manhattan.
Thirty-fi ve units at St. Augustine
will be set-aside for adults
with mental illness, according to
Catholic Charities.
Beacon of Hope, a division of
Catholic Charities Community
Services, will provide social services
to those tenants with mental
illness living at St. Augustine
Terrace.
“These individuals have to
deal with tremendous challenges,
including economic hardship,
and providing affordable homes
in a supportive and well-maintained
environment is critical
to their health and the health of
the larger community,” McCray
said.
The fi rst lady, who leads the
city’s Task Force on Mental Illness,
commended the Catholic
Church for its charitable contribution
to the Bronx.
“Today, we applaud the work
of the Catholic Church and all
New Yorkers who recognize the
need to reintegrate people who
suffer from mental illness into
the larger society,” she continued
.P
rior to its conversion into
housing, St. Augustine was an
Archdiosan church that closed in
2011.
After its closure, St. Augustine
Church was demolished in 2013.
Its replacement housing project
was designed by Magnusson Architecture
and Planning and constructed
by MEGA Contracting
Group, achieving LEED Gold environmental
certifi cation.
“This land was sacred before
and is so once again,” Cardinal
Dolan said while presiding over
the ceremony. “The church is
strongly committed to social justice
and ensuring that having a
home is a sacred human right. We
are delighted that we could transform
this church property into
homes for New Yorkers with the
greatest needs,” the Cardinal continued.
Design and public approvals
have already begun on the fi ve
new developments in the Bronx,
according to Catholic Charities.
www.BXTimes.com BRONX WEEKLY April 21, 2019 2
Dolan, McCray, and Gibson celebrate the opening of the affordable housing development.
Kasey Rodriguez
St. Augustine’s exterior. Kasey Rodriguez
/www.BXTimes.com