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HOMELESS VETS ARE BEING BOOTED FROM NY HOTELS TO MAKE ROOM FOR MIGRANTS:
ADVOCATES

By Bernadette Hogan and Kate Sheehy

Published May 12, 2023
Updated May 19, 2023, 1:35 a.m. ET

Editor’s note: This non-profit CEO has since been accused of misrepresenting the
veterans who have been displaced for migrants. 

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Nearly two dozen struggling homeless veterans have been booted from upstate
hotels to make room for migrants, says a nonprofit group that works with the
vets.

The ex-military — including a 24-year-old man in desperate need of help after
serving in Afghanistan — were told by the hotels at the beginning of the week
that their temporary housing was getting pulled out from under them at the
establishments and that they’d have to move on to another spot, according to the
group and a sickened local pol.

“Our veterans have been placed in another hotel due to what’s going on with the
immigrants,’’ said Sharon Toney-Finch, the CEO of the Yerik Israel Toney
Foundation.

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Toney-Finch, a disabled military veteran, created YIT to raise awareness of
premature births, as well as helping the homeless and low-income military
service veterans in need of living assistance.


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LAKEN RILEY’S LIFE WAS WORTH NO LESS THAN GEORGE FLOYD’S

“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.

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“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.

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“Last night, I was crying.”

3
Nearly two dozen struggling homeless veterans have been booted from upstate
hotels to make room for migrants. Robert Miller

Toney-Finch said 15 of the veterans got the heave-ho from the Crossroads Hotel
in Newburgh about 60 miles north of New York City in Orange County — a new
epicenter of Big Apple’s migrant crisis since Mayor Eric Adams began bussing
Gotham’s overflow there against local officials’ wishes.

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The other five displaced veterans were split between two other local facilities
— the Super 8 and Hampton Inn & Suites in Middletown, Toney-Finch said.

The Middletown hotels are not believed to have migrants yet but were reportedly
on the city’s shortlist to take some.

She 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.

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All 20 of the 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.

3
Sharon Toney-Finch, the CEO of YIT Foundation expressed her frustration citing
that “Our veterans have been placed in another hotel due to what’s going on with
the immigrants.” TheImageDirect.com

The Crossroads, Super 8 and the hotel where the vets are now staying had no
comment when contacted by The Post on Friday.

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Hampton Inn did not immediately respond to a message left on voicemail.

Toney-Finch said the veterans had originally been set to temporarily stay at the
three hotels for up to four weeks, till permanent housing for them could be
found.

The vets were about two weeks into their hotel stays when they got the boot, she
said.

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“Now we have to work from ground zero. We just lost that trust [with the vets],”
the organizer said.

3
Many ex-military members including a 24-year-old man in desperate need of help
after serving in Afghanistan — were told by the hotels at the beginning of the
week that their temporary housing was getting pulled out from under them. James
Keivom

“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.”

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State Assemblyman Brian Maher, a Republican who helps rep 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.”

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“We need to put them first.”

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 is paying for
each migrant.

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“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.

Adams began bussing migrants flooding the city to The Crossroads on Thursday —
hours before a key federal immigration-rule change was set to take effect and
feared to increase the influx even more.

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Hizzoner’s move spurred a vicious war of words between Adams and officials in
Orange and neighboring Rockland County, where the mayor also has threatened to
bus migrants — till a lawsuit at least temporarily blocked the move.

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.

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What do you think? Post a comment.

“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.’ ”

Additional reporting by Reuven Fenton


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Filed under eric adams ,  homelessness ,  migrants ,  orange county ,  rockland
county ,  title 42 ,  veterans ,  5/12/23
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