Morris Park residents marched Sunday morning outside the NYC Health + Hospitals/Jacobi campus against a proposal that would house sick former Rikers Island inmates in their neighborhood.

The proposed site for the new facility is right outside the Jacobi campus in the Bronx. NYC Health + Hospitals and the nonprofit organization The Fortune Society are spearheading the project. 

The additional facility would have 70 units for former inmates who are critically ill. 

The organizer of the rally tells News 12’s Julio Aliva residents are not opposed to helping the less fortunate. They are just tired of the Bronx being treated as a “dumping ground” for these projects. There are already numerous shelters and housing units in the borough. 

NYC Health + Hospitals made the announcement in July saying they are looking forward to helping those former inmates. 

News 12 has reached out to NYC Health + Hospitals for a response, but have not yet heard back.