COLUMBIA COUNTy WELLNESS HUB
The Greenburger Center for Justice in collaboration with the City of Hudson, Columbia County, and RUPCO will develop the Wellness Hub, a transformative mixed-use project designed to address the urgent housing and support needs of individuals in Columbia County. Strategically located on a 5-acre parcel in Greenport, just minutes away from Columbia Memorial Health Hospital and other vital service providers, the Wellness Hub will offer a much-needed alternative to existing temporary housing options.
The Wellness Hub will provide housing and case management services to individuals who are experiencing homelessness, serious mental illness or substance use disorder, and to those formerly incarcerated. The development will feature 25 Single Room Occupancy (SRO) units as part of a Safe Haven Shelter, 35 permanent supportive apartments with rental subsidies, and up to 14 temporary beds for short-term stays of up to 120 days, supported by the NYS Office of Mental Health (OMH). By offering access to care, housing, and services all in one place, this project aims to create a pathway to stability, recovery, and community for those with nowhere else to turn. Designed with trauma-informed and sustainable principles, the Wellness Hub will offer community rooms, green spaces, and a welcoming, secure environment to promote healing and a seamless transition from emergency shelter to permanent housing.
In June 2020, Kamal Johnson, Mayor of the City of Hudson, New York, sought to reform the City’s criminal justice system in response to the murder of George Floyd. Among his goals was implementation of reforms intended to reduce policing of people in a mental health or substance use disorder (SUD) related crisis, typically due to poorly or untreated symptoms of the disease (the “target population”).
Thereafter, in July 2020, the City partnered with the Greenburger Center for Social and Criminal Justice (“Greenburger Center”) to facilitate the Transitions to Treatment Task Force (Task Force). The Task Force used the “Sequential Intercept Model” (SIM) mapping process to identify the County’s services and service gaps related to the treatment and care of the target population.
On May 18, 2021, the Task Force released the SIM Report which included a recommendation to develop the Columbia County Wellness Hub on a 5-acre parcel of land strategically located near other City and County services. The Wellness Hub will include an emergency shelter, supportive housing and other services to support the target population.
A summary of the SIM Report and Full Report is available here:
