NYC building to offer affordable housing for formerly incarcerated people

EAST HARLEM, Manhattan (PIX11) -- An affordable housing building under construction in Manhattan will have more than half of its units set aside for formerly incarcerated people who are currently homeless.

Castle III is being built on East 123rd Street in East Harlem. The building will include 82 units of affordable housing for people experiencing homelessness. Fifty-eight of those units will be set aside for formerly incarcerated people.

The $55 million project is scheduled to be completed by May 2026. The building's lottery will open next year.

The 15-story building will include a laundry room, community room, bike storage and outdoor space. Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine said it's badly needed.

The project is a partnership between the city, state, the Fortune Society and JPMorgan Chase.

Stanley Richards is the president and CEO of the nonprofit Fortune Society, an organization that helps formerly incarcerated people get job training, social services and affordable housing.

Richards spent time in prison and said he needed help to reenter the community in 1991. The Fortune Society helped him get his first job as a counselor helping others. He now runs the organization.

Philip Hall, a 58-year-old from Harlem, was released from prison after serving eight years and said it was hard to find a job and an affordable place to live. Hall was listening to a radio station and found out about the Fortune Society. It was a lifesaver for him.

There are dozens of other affordable housing lotteries currently open on NYC Housing Connect.