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A group of homeless veterans being temporarily lodged in several hotels in Orange County, New York were relocated from one hotel to another so the area could accommodate an influx of migrants, according to multiple outlets. Update: The claims in this story have been debunked as false, as no veterans were evicted and the men presented as homeless veterans were not veterans.
The nonprofit Yerik Israel Toney Foundation told the New York Post that last week 20 veterans were given one day's notice to vacate two hotels in the town of Newburgh and Middleton, some 70 miles north of New York city. The hotels would now need the rooms to house asylum seekers who had been bused to the City and as part of a plan by Mayor Eric Adams, sent further into the state to alleviate housing issues inside the city. The veterans who were evicted have since been rehoused in other hotels.
"Our veterans have been placed in another hotel due to what's going on with the immigrants," YIT Foundation Founder Sharon Toney-Finch told the Post.
"One of the vets called me on Sunday," she added. "He told me he had to leave because the hotel said the extended stay is not available... Then I got another call.”
Toney-Finch said the evicted veterans were promised temporary housing for a month. And 15 of the 20 veterans kicked out of New York hotels were staying at The Crossroads Hotel in Newburgh and the others were housed at the Super 8 and Hampton Inn & Suites in Middletown.
Toney-Finch told the Post that the organization paid about $88 a day for housing homeless veterans.
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"These veterans served their country, taking an oath to put themselves in harm's way if need be," David R. Riley Sr., American Legion Department of New York commander, told the newspaper. "They deserve better. We owe them. Our country, our state, our citizens owe them."
The Veterans of Foreign Wars in a release said it was actively following the news and “is deeply troubled by reports indicating the move was in an effort to turn a higher profit by offering these rooms for government use.”
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Over 60,000 migrants have arrived in New York City in the past year, according to New York City officials, including 4,200 in the last week. The City is currently sheltering 37,500 migrants at over 120 emergency locations and eight large-scale centers, according to the New York Times.
Mayor Adams said that all the migrants who participated in the plan to send them from the city to the suburban counties do so voluntarily and they would receive housing in the hotels for up to four months, all paid for by the city.
Two buses full of migrants reached Newburgh on Thursday, May 11, hours before the end of Title 42, the pandemic-era measure that allowed border authorities to immediately deport migrants crossing into the U.S., some of whom may have been granted asylum.
Previously reported deals between the authorities and Manhattan hotels have put the payment for housing migrants at $190 a night. In January, the Post reported that the city's Holiday Inn Manhattan Financial District had won a judge's approval to become a migrant shelter. The hotel admin filed for bankruptcy after the pandemic and stood to be paid between $115 and $190 a night for the use of its rooms.
VFW representatives are expected to attend a State Veterans Council Meeting on Wednesday where the New York City Department of Veterans Services Commissioner will provide a status update.
“Through a continued partnership with Humana, the VFW Department of New York remains committed to alleviating veteran homelessness and food insecurity, raising and donating nearly $80,000 to shelters throughout the state in 2021-2022,” the VFW release noted.
Veterans who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless can visit here or contact VA’s National Call Center for Homeless Veterans at 877.424.3838 for assistance.
Reach Julia LeDoux at Julia@connectingvets.com.
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