(WBEN) - One local leader in Albany and local community organizations are in ongoing discussions with New York City to rehome migrants already within the Western New York region.
State Sen. Sean Ryan says he's been in talks with New York City and local nonprofits over the last few months about finding better housing options for migrants that are currently in hotels in locations like Cheektowaga and Amherst.
"New York City started sending migrants here over the summer. It was chaotic, there wasn't much of a plan. County Executive [Mark] Poloncarz intervened and stopped any more busloads from coming. But in the meantime, hundreds of people, many families have been languishing in hotels, and we're trying to do something about that," said Sen. Ryan in an interview with WBEN.
Sen. Ryan says this initiative is not geared towards welcoming more migrants to Western New York. It is rather working with New York City officials, who have been paying for the migrants' current housing situation, and finding better alternatives, especially for families.
"New York City is spending an exceptional amount of money on hotels. They could spend less money than that by working with our local agencies to get people into vacant apartments," Sen. Ryan explained. "We know how to do this, our agencies has been resettling refugees for decades. But living in a hotel, it's not good for kids. This would allow kids to live in neighborhoods with their schoolmates. We don't want kids spending a whole school year in a in a hotel.
"We all know, it's not a good idea to have families living in hotels, but it doesn't make any economic sense. The amount of money that New York City is spending on hotels is astronomical. They can save money by renting out apartments that are vacant throughout our regions. And this will get the kids into stable neighborhoods. A lot of them will be closer to their schools, allow them to interact with their school friends. That's way better for families than sitting in a hotel."
Sen. Ryan says there's about 500 people who have been languishing in local hotels that are not set up for long-term living for several months now. He also feels migrants living in apartments is more secure than living in a hotel.
"We want people to be integrated into our neighborhoods and not only congregated into hotels that are often not in neighborhoods, and not accessible to any form of transportation," Sen. Ryan said.
If there is an agreement that can be made with New York City in the near future, Ryan says it'll save the taxpayers money, it'll put money into the local economy, and it will get these migrants and their families into stable environments.
"We didn't create this problem, but we want to come up with some solutions to fix it," he said.
The ongoing discussions have been with Jewish Family Services and other community organizations, who have expressed a willingness to support them.
Jewish Family Services responded to our request for comment with the following statement:
"Jewish Family Services has a long history of providing programs and services to refugees, migrants and asylum seekers. We are very proud of our work with these populations as they have contributed greatly to the fabric of our community. While various discussions with New York City have occurred, nothing has been finalized and it would be inappropriate to comment further at this time. When and if any agreement with New York City is reached, we will certainly be sharing more information with the community."
Back in August, Poloncarz announced no new migrants from New York City would be sent to Erie County following a pair of arrests made of migrants facing sexual assault charges.
Migrants have been living in hotels, with a number of them even being moved to other hotels in the region since their arrival back in June.
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