Celebrating One Year of Barclay Place Apartments
July 10, 2024
Watch our First Anniversary video
On July 10, 2023, we officially cut the ribbon on Barclay Place Apartments, an innovative development that recognizes the relationship between stable housing and overall health outcomes. Barclay Place was the first development to open under the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency’s new Hospital Partnership Subsidy Program, which encourages hospitals to take an active role in improving the health of the communities they serve.
We started construction on the building in 2021, with St. Joseph’s Health—Paterson’s flagship health institution — serving as the hospital partner, and CAPC—a subsidiary of New Jersey Community Capital (the state’s largest Community Development Financial Institution)—providing vital support to ensure the project’s success. Two years later, construction was complete, and 56 new units of affordable housing for Patersonians with chronic health conditions had been created right across the street from St. Joseph’s University Medical Center. In addition to providing housing, Barclay Place also offers residents on-site preventive health and wellness services, to make health care more accessible to those who need it most.
One year after cutting the ribbon, we are proud of everything we and our partners have accomplished at Barclay Place. Currently, Barclay Place houses 130 residents, many of whom have disabilities or chronic health conditions. Over the past year, residents have attended workshops on mindfulness and stress management; learned to cook healthy, homemade food with local chefs; enrolled in health insurance plans, and received free turkeys to help them celebrate the holidays! Barclay Place has received multiple awards for its innovative approach to housing and healthcare, and Barclay Place resident Cristina Tone was even invited by Governor Murphy to attend his State of the State Address, where he spoke about the future of affordable housing in New Jersey.
Another resident, Celiness, has lived at Barclay Place with her family since October 2023. Before they moved to Barclay, they were staying with a family member, with five people crammed into just one bedroom. Celiness and her husband were struggling to save for a new home, while also needing to access care for the family. Since they moved in, Celiness says they have found a sense of community at Barclay Place. They have been able to go to health and wellness workshops, and her children have been able to meet other kids around their age.
“Being able to afford an apartment was really, really difficult, as well as trying to have an environment that is safe for my kids. Having the ability to have a home that we can feel safe at, a home that caters to our disabilities, and having other people around that have similar disabilities is great,” said Celiness. “Thank you to NJCDC and St. Joseph’s Health for making a big difference in my life, for giving us this opportunity to find the community that we’ve been looking for, and being able to feel that sense of a home.”
NJCDC Founder & CEO Bob Guarasci said, “Housing is healthcare. And this past year has shown that addressing social determinants of health for our residents is crucial for them to be able to transform their lives. We have seen so many people’s lives completely change in the last year from having a healthy, stable place to call home—and this is just the beginning! We continue to be grateful to St. Joseph’s Health for their partnership in making this project possible.”