Lots of people are talking about the state’s plan for 2,800 housing units at the Creedmoor site. Understandably, many life-long residents of the area fear that the project would change the character of the surrounding neighborhoods. Their parents or grandparents worked hard to buy homes in Glen Oaks Village or Hollis Hills: this new plan feels like a threat to their legacy.

New York State finally has a plan to turn the Creedmoor Psychiatric Center into thousands of units of housing. It will also have full power to approve the plan — angering neighbors who feel they’ll be sidestepped on a project that could transform the low-density neighborhood in eastern Queens with “tall monstrosities” up to eight stories high.

A better use for Creedmoor: Housing for New Yorkers in Eastern Queens

Governor will tap industry to revamp 58 acres at Creedmoor

Op-Ed | Governor Hochul: Affordable housing is needed, Creedmoor is an opportunity

A coalition of activist groups is advocating for the Creedmoor Psychiatric Center in eastern Queens to be converted into affordable housing. They launched the "Public Land for Public Good" campaign, urging Governor Kathy Hochul's administration to use over 50 acres of state-owned land for this purpose.

The fight for affordable housing at a Queens Village site slated for major redevelopment by New York state has the support of local Catholic priests who are working with a nonprofit organization seeking to get 3,000 apartments built there.

The call for new affordable housing comes as rents continue to rise in Queens, and throughout New York City. Median rents reached $2,700 in Queens in April,

QUEENS, N.Y. (PIX11)– Can crumbling parts of the former Creedmoor Psychiatric Center in Queens become a thriving community of affordable homes? The New York Empire State Development held a meeting Thursday night in Bellerose to get community input on design plans to rebuild 55 acres of the more than 100-acre campus in Queens Village. Renderings show green spaces, walkways, senior living, single-family homes and townhouses. NYC plans to build affordable housing complex in the West Village June Forde, who attended the meeting, told PIX11 News she’s hoping for plenty of affordable homes so her 31-year-old son, who is a city firefighter can move out of her South Ozone home. “It’s awful that you love this city and you want to be here, and we have nothing,” Forde said. Members of the community advocacy group Queens Power also weighed in. “New York City and people in my congregation are moving out of town because young professionals can’t afford to live here,” Rev. Patrick O’Connor, the leader of the First Presbyterian Church in Jamaica, said.