From Theory to Community: Supportive Housing Practitioners Experience the Barclay Place Model Firsthand

View our photo album from the convening and tour

View our video short of the tour

A Gathering Focused on What Works

On April 21, NJCDC joined partners from across the region to welcome more than 60 supportive housing practitioners to St. Joseph’s University Medical Center for a day centered on collaboration, innovation, and the future of housing and healthcare.

Co-hosted by the Supportive Housing Association of New Jersey (SHA), the Corporation for Supportive Housing (CSH), the Health Coalition of Passaic County, and St. Joseph’s Health, the convening was designed to help participants better understand how supportive housing partnerships take shape — and how they can be replicated in communities across the state.

Opening remarks from SHA Executive Director Kate Kelly and a presentation by CSH leaders Cassondra Warney and Brian McShane set the stage, emphasizing the power of cross-sector collaboration. From there, attention turned to a model that has already shown what those partnerships can achieve.

Reframing the Role of Housing in Health

NJCDC Founder & CEO Bob Guarasci, joined by St. Joseph’s Health’s Tina Miles and Barclay Place resident Cristina Tone — an NJCDC staff member — led attendees through a presentation on the vision, development, and impact of Barclay Place, an innovative supportive housing development located just steps from the hospital.

At the core of the presentation was a simple but powerful idea: housing is not separate from healthcare — it is foundational to it.

Bob framed the model through the lens of social determinants of health, emphasizing that the conditions in which people live play a far greater role in long-term health outcomes than clinical care alone. From that starting point, the presentation walked through how Barclay Place was intentionally designed to serve individuals and families with chronic health conditions, integrating affordable housing with on-site healthcare and supportive services.

The project is a genuine cross-sector collaboration. St. Joseph’s Health saw an opportunity to address community health through housing and brought in NJCDC as a development partner. Together with New Jersey Community Capital, the team wove housing and healthcare goals together from the start — shaping the building’s design, services, and financing structure as a single, unified vision.

The result is a $26 million, 56-unit development that is fully occupied and purpose-built to support residents with chronic health needs — demonstrating both the scale of the need and the effectiveness of the model.

A Model Designed Around People

Barclay Place was designed for more than shelter — it functions as a platform for stability, access, and belonging.

Each apartment is home to an individual or family with at least one member living with a chronic health condition, with rents set intentionally below market rate to ensure accessibility.

The building reflects this commitment at every scale — from non-toxic materials and accessible layouts to safety features designed with residents’ long-term health in mind.

On the ground floor, a dedicated wellness hub brings services directly to residents — eliminating barriers that often prevent people from accessing care. Through partnerships with St. Joseph’s Health and NJCDC, residents have access to mental health counseling, case management, chronic disease support, and a wide range of programming, including fitness classes, nutrition workshops, and financial counseling sessions.

As Bob noted during the presentation, the goal was never just to provide housing, but to create an environment where people could stabilize, connect, and thrive.

From Presentation to Reality

After the morning sessions and a networking lunch, attendees stepped outside and walked less than two blocks to Barclay Place — a short walk that marked a shift from theory to lived experience.

Split into small groups, participants were guided through the building by Barclay residents themselves, who offered a candid, personal window into what the model looks like day to day.

They toured resident apartments, visited shared spaces like the gym and rooftop terrace, and explored the building’s community suite and demonstration kitchen. Along the way, they encountered the kinds of moments that define life at Barclay Place — a Zumba class underway in the fitness room and a one-on-one financial counseling session through the Paterson Financial Empowerment Center, which NJCDC operates in partnership with the City of Paterson.

They also had the opportunity to visit the demonstration kitchen, where Paterson resident Brenda — a familiar face at NJCDC events — led a baking activity that showcased the kinds of programming regularly offered to residents.

A Community Taking Shape

In the nearly three years since opening, Barclay Place has grown into more than a collection of apartments — it is now a true community.

Residents are connecting with one another, participating in programs, and engaging in opportunities that extend beyond the building itself. From health workshops and counseling sessions to Paterson resident-led activities, the building has created space for both individual stability and collective growth.

For many attendees, the tour underscored a key takeaway from the day: supportive housing works best when it is not treated as a standalone intervention, but as part of a broader, coordinated system that brings housing, healthcare, and community together.

A Model Worth Replicating

Barclay Place is the first development completed under New Jersey’s Hospital Partnership Subsidy Program — a statewide initiative designed to bring housing developers and healthcare providers together to address the root causes of poor health outcomes.

Practitioners left Paterson with more than new connections. They carried with them a working example of what integrated supportive housing can look like — and a clearer sense of how similar partnerships might take root in their own communities.

For NJCDC and its partners, the day served as both a reflection on what has been built and a reminder of what is still possible.

Because when housing, healthcare, and community are aligned, the impact goes far beyond any single building.