Homeless Veterans Kicked Out Of Hotels To Make Room For Migrants
Thanks for your service, now get out.
That's essentially what some upstate New York hotels are saying to homeless veterans, according to a non-profit group that works with the vets.
The hotels told the ex-military members earlier this week they would lose their temporary housing and they'd have to find another spot. That's to make room for the influx of migrants coming into the state.
Sharon Toney-Finch, a disabled vet and CEO of the Yerik Israel Toney Foundation, works with the displaced service members. She founded YIT to raise awareness of premature births, as well as to help the homeless and low-income military veterans in need of living assistance.
![Homeless Veterans Kicked Out Of Hotels To Make Room For Migrants](http://images.outkick.com/static.outkick.com/www.outkick.com/content/uploads/2024/01/668/376/GettyImages-1410155821-1.jpg?ve=1&tl=1)
(Photo by George Rose/Getty Images)
"One of the vets called me on Sunday," she said. "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 15 of the veterans got booted from the Crossroads Hotel in Newburgh — about 60 miles north of New York City. That's where NYC Mayor Eric Adams began bussing the migrant overflow.
The other five displaced vets split up between the Super 8 and the Hampton in Middletown.
They stayed at the hotels for two weeks before getting the boot.
Homeless veterans are now seeking relocation.
"Now we have to work from ground zero. We just lost that trust ," Toney-Finch said. "A lot of them are Vietnam veterans. We do help them on a constant basis to get them benefits and help them find a place in society."
State Assemblyman Brian Maher said the hotels should be putting our former service members first.
"They really ought to think about the impact on these people already going through a traumatic time,’’ Maher told The New York Post. "Whether you agree with asylum-seekers being here or not, we can’t just ignore these veterans that are in our charge that we are supposed to protect."
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Officials welcome migrants arriving at the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Midtown Manhattan. (Luiz C. Ribeiro for N.Y. Daily News/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
Toney-Finch said it all comes down to money. Simply put, the city pays them more per migrant than her organization can pay.
"That’s so unfair, because at the end of the day, we are a small nonprofit, and we do pay $88 a day for a veteran to be there," she said.
Various reported deals between New York City and Manhattan hotels have called for payments around $190 a night — part of an estimated $4.3 billion price tag for taxpayers.
And with the expiration of Title 42, don't expect an end to this crisis anytime soon.