Inhumane Consequences of the City’s Failure to Plan
This week the City of New York’s plan to shift the responsibility of what it means to be a Sanctuary City throughout the rest of the State hit new lows as reports surfaced that this came at the expense of at least two homeless families in Yonkers – all evicted with little notice to make space for migrants.
One of those families, a mom with an 18-month-old child, told the New York Post she had one hour to leave from the Ramada Hotel in Yonkers as it prepared to receive migrants from the City of New York.
The Mayor of New York can put whatever spin he wants on this but there is nothing humane about forcing our own vulnerable populations onto the street in favor of his plan to house migrants.
Like we said from day one Adams isn’t helping people, he’s hurting people.
There’s a famous saying that goes “failing to plan is planning to fail,” which is exactly what has happened. These are the inhumane consequences being caused by the City of New York’s failure to plan for a crisis they knew was coming.
Instead of reaching out to municipalities months ago, the City is – with little notice – attempting to turn hotels into homeless shelters across New York, with Rockland County eyed to be among the first.
The fact that the largest city in the entire country believes shifting their responsibility to the smallest county in the State of New York is a good idea just underscores how absurd this plan is and the lack of planning that was done by the Adams Administration.
Back in March we publicized how our resources are at breaking points due to the natural migration surge we have seen in Rockland, which includes our housing crisis, which we doubled down on when this surfaced last week. Rockland has a housing crisis due to the lack thereof and lack of affordable housing options. This crisis is so extreme that Rockland has been unprecedently deputized by the State of New York to take over Building and Fire Code enforcement in the Village of Spring Valley.
Quadrupling the number of homeless in our County which does not have the infrastructure to care for them will only compound that issue tenfold while straining support systems that are already at a max.
To shield ourselves from the City’s irresponsible plan we declared a State of Emergency prohibiting other municipalities from bringing and housing people in the County and prohibits hotels and motels from housing immigrants without a license from the County.
We are also withholding the permit renewal for the Armoni Inn & Suites in Orangeburg as a lawsuit plays out between the hotel and the Town of Orangetown under the zoning violations and legal use of the property. Lastly, we filed a lawsuit against New York City and Mayor Eric Adams for their lack of authority to erect shelters outside of their jurisdiction. That lawsuit was granted a Temporary Restraining Order that the City failed to remove in an appeal last Friday.
In response to our swift actions, Mayor Adams labeled me racist in a sad attempt to deflect the reality of his clear disregard for the law and failure to deliver on the promise of being a Sanctuary City.
In truth, his absurd actions have resulted in about 10 counties declaring similar State of Emergencies in addition to the Town of Riverhead and Town of Fishkill changing local laws for the same safeguard.
Let’s not forget the number of protests happening this week as the City is now setting its sights on turning school gyms into migrant shelters.
There is nothing heroic about pushing homeless families onto the streets or children from their school gymnasiums, all of which could have been avoided if he and his administration properly planned ahead to tackle this crisis.
We continue to stand opposed to the Mayor’s short-sighted plan which will endanger the lives of residents both current and future.
