A former Manhattan prison will soon be transformed into affordable and supportive housing for once-incarcerated individuals, per a state plan that Gov. Kathy Hochul announced on Monday.
Hochul plans to convert the state-owned, 100,000-square-foot former Bayview Correctional Facility on West 20th Street and 11th Avenue in Chelsea into Liberty Landing — providing affordable housing for low-income residents and supportive housing for former inmates reentering the community.
The site will have 124 permanently affordable housing units, with 74 of those units set aside for formerly incarcerated individuals.
The project is a $108 million investment that is part of a joint venture between Camber Property Group and the Osborne Association, an organization that helps people affected by the criminal justice system.
The governor said the plan would help alleviate the state’s and city’s ongoing affordable housing crisis.
“NYS is experiencing a housing crisis,” Hochul said. “It’s across our state, but particularly acute here in NYC. The supply of available rental housing is the lowest it has been since the 1960s, when rent regulation first began.”
The governor added that she worked with the state legislature to “look at state-owned assets” to adapt them for other uses.
“I also convened the Prison Redevelopment Commission in 2022, and their recommendations shined the light on so many possibilities around housing in particular,” she said. “And that’s where our idea on how we wanted to reimagine Bayview came to life.”
The former prison, which once held incarcerated women, has been abandoned for 12 years. Hochul described it as an “eyesore” in the community after it was severely damaged by Hurricane Sandy in 2012.
“Every New Yorker deserves access to safe, stable, and affordable housing. Liberty Landing represents a significant step forward in our efforts to provide inclusive housing opportunities and support to vulnerable New Yorkers,” she said. “This innovative project will transform a former symbol of incarceration into a beacon of hope, healing, and opportunity.”
According to the governor, the Osborne Association will provide an array of social services and programming on site designed to help residents. The services include workforce development programs, family and relationship coaching, independent living skills training, and onsite wellness services, such as nutrition education and chronic disease management.
Other features will give residents access to benefits advocacy, peer mentorship, and connections to healthcare, mental health support, and substance use disorder treatment through community partnerships.
“With decades of experience in reentry support, Osborne is expanding its housing portfolio in direct response to the overrepresentation of older adults and LGBTQIA+ people in our jails and prisons and the dearth of housing options for them when they return to the community,” Osborne Association president and CEO Jon Monsalve said.
Tackling the NYS affordable housing crisis
Liberty Landing is the most recent of Hochul’s ongoing efforts to solve the state’s housing crisis.
As part of the FY25 enacted budget, Hochul secured an agreement to increase New York’s housing supply through new tax incentives for upstate communities and new incentives and zoning relief to create more housing in New York City.
According to the governor’s office, the plan will keep the former prison’s main and annex building’s “largely intact” while constructing a new addition in the interior courtyard.
Plans also include a 9,300-square-foot community facility unit to be dedicated to youth-oriented programming, as well as a 15-unit, short-term transitional residence to support individuals with mental health needs who are “navigating life transitions” and in need of temporary housing.
The state’s mental health office is providing both capital and operating funding for these residences. According to the governor’s office, the proposed project will be sponsored by Empire State Development, a department that supports economic growth in the state, under a general project plan, will undergo environmental review under the State Environmental Quality Review Act, and will be presented for public review and comment prior to its final consideration and approval.
