In September 2020, Monarch Heights, a private luxury development geared toward providing off-campus housing to Columbia students, opened its doors to tenants for the first time. Offering amenities such as private study rooms, a fitness center, and a convenient location only a short walk away from Columbia’s Morningside campus, Monarch Heights positioned itself as a competitive option for students looking for off-campus housing.

Morningside Heights faced unprecedented private development growth in 2016. This growth—and the subsequent increase in housing prices—made it increasingly difficult for families in Morningside Heights to make ends meet.

As the residents of New York City Housing Authority developments have become more frustrated with the lack of critical renovations addressing disability accessibility and health violations, NYCHA is beginning to look to private sector developers.

On the corner of 126th Street and Lenox Avenue, Harlem community leaders and residents gathered on Friday to chant, wave signs, and march in protest of the construction of a new Mount Sinai Hospital methadone clinic. The clinic, which stands on 125th Street, is the eighth such drug treatment facility within a five-block radius, and residents say it is proof that Harlem has become oversaturated with methadone clinics.