A nonprofit organization that works with homeless veterans has reported that nearly two dozen struggling ex-military personnel have been evicted from upstate hotels to make room for migrants.
The veterans, including a 24-year-old man who served in Afghanistan, were informed by the hotels at the beginning of the week that their temporary housing was being pulled out from under them and that they would have to move to another location.
Sharon Toney-Finch, CEO of the Yerik Israel Toney Foundation, said that 15 of the veterans were evicted from the Crossroads Hotel in Newburgh, Orange County, which has become a new epicenter of New York City's migrant crisis since Mayor Eric Adams began bussing the city's overflow there against local officials' wishes.
The other five veterans were split between two local facilities, the Super 8 and Hampton Inn & Suites in Middletown. The hotels did not explicitly say that the veterans had to move because of the migrants, but Toney-Finch said it was clear to her that was the case, given the timing.
The veterans had initially been set to temporarily stay at the three hotels for up to four weeks until permanent housing could be found. They were about two weeks into their hotel stay when they were evicted. All 20 veterans have ended up at a Hudson Valley hotel about 20 minutes away, said Toney-Finch, who asked that the site not be named.
The Crossroads, Super 8, and the hotel where the veterans are now staying had no comment when contacted by The Post on Friday. Hampton Inn did not immediately respond to a message left on voicemail.
Toney-Finch said she believes it all comes down to money. "They want to get paid" more, she said of the hotels, referring to what her group shells out to get the vets housing compared to what the city pays for each migrant.
"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. While it's unclear what the city is paying upstate, various reported deals between the Big Apple and Manhattan hotels, have called for payments such as $190 a night, part of an estimated $4.3 billion migrant price tag for taxpayers through spring 2024.
State Assemblyman Brian Maher, a Republican who helps represent Orange County, said, "Shining a light on this is important because we need to make sure these hotels know how important it is to respect the service of our veterans before they kick [them] out of hotels to make room."
"They really ought to think about the impact on these people already going through a traumatic time," he told The 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: the New Yorkers and Americans."
Toney-Finch, a disabled military veteran, created YIT to raise awareness of premature births and help the homeless and low-income military service veterans in need of living assistance. "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. We didn't waste any time," the advocate said. "That's when we started on Monday to organize when and where to move them all. I am glad you called me today," she told The Post. "Last night, I was crying."
Toney-Finch said the hotels didn't explicitly say the vets had to move because of the migrants but that it was clear to her that was the case, given the timing. All 20 booted veterans have ended up at a Hudson Valley hotel about 20 minutes away, said Toney-Finch, who asked that The Post not name the site. The Crossroads, Super 8, and the hotel where the vets are now staying had no comment when contacted by The Post on Friday. Hampton Inn did not immediately respond to a message left on voicemail.
Toney-Finch said the veterans had initially been set to temporarily stay at the three hotels for up to four weeks until permanent housing could be found. She said the vets were about two weeks into their hotel stays when they got the boot. "Now we have to work from ground zero. We just lost that trust [with the vets]," the organizer 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."
Maher said it's outrageous that veterans are getting caught in the crossfire of the migrant crisis. "For these people only being there a few weeks, then to be told after having a level of trust developed, 'Hey, you have to get out,' That's not right," he said. "One thing I'm doing today is my staff and I are putting together care packages to let them know: 'Listen, we are embarrassed by this.' We put a bunch of things in the care package as well as cards for the veterans to say, 'Thank you.'"
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