Jersey City Residents Urge Council Members to Maintain Christ Hospital Campus as a Medical Zone

At last night’s Jersey City council meeting, residents, healthcare workers, and union leaders delivered an emotional appeal: keep Christ Hospital’s 16-acre campus a medical zone and block any efforts that could transform the site into high-end housing. 

The Hearing centered on Resolution 25-124, an ordinance formally designating the campus as a Medical Zone. The debate follows the abrupt closure of Christ Hospital in early November, an issue that sparked widespread concern throughout Jersey City. For many who spoke, the shutdown left a medical gap in the city that they fear will deepen without decisive action from local officials. 

Throughout the meeting, community members described the hospital as a lifeline, one that residents depend on for emergencies, childbirth, surgeries and urgent care. Speakers warned that leaving the facility closed, or allowing it to be replaced with expensive residential development would threaten public safety and leave vulnerable residents without realistic access to medical services. Several people told the council that they believe people will die if the hospital is not restored. 

Healthcare unions reinforced that message. Craig Ford, the president of District 1199J, representing over ten thousand healthcare workers in the state of New Jersey, emphasized the stakes for low-income patients. “We have a lot of charity care residents, and the unfortunate thing is these new hospital care companies are not supporting these residents,” he said, pointing to systemic gaps in healthcare equity that would worsen if Christ Hospital remains closed. 

HPAE also submitted a formal statement supporting the Medical Zone designation. “With respect to Christ Hospital, the purpose of the M Medical District is to ensure continuity of medical and healthcare services associated with the hospital and/or other medical related uses traditionally associated with such facility in order to protect the community in a way that the Department of Health failed to do in 2012 and is likely to fail to do so now,” wrote Renee Steinhagen, Executive Director of NJ Appleseed. “Since the current owner of Christ Hospital has clearly shown no interest in maintaining any medical or medically related services on the site, it is thus necessary to eliminate non-medical related uses if we are going to satisfy the explicit purpose and intent of adopting the M Medical District in the first place.” 

Following more than an hour of public testimony, the City Council voted to approve the ordinance. It passed unanimously. The members voiced strong support and shared personal stories of their own interactions with Christ Hospital, describing emergency room visits, lifesaving care, and moments when the hospital served their families in critical ways. Their remarks underscored what residents have insisted since the day the hospital closed: Christ Hospital is woven into the city’s history, health, and survival. 

As Jersey City continues to grow, the fight for accessible and equitable healthcare remains at the forefront for thousands of residents. The passage of the Medical Zone ordinance marks a major step, but for the workers, unions, and families who testified it is only the beginning of the effort to bring Christ Hospital back.