UPDATE, May 19, 2023: The Times-Union of Albany, New York, threw cold water on reporting by the New York Post and others about homeless veterans being kicked out of hotel rooms in the state to make room for migrants. In an article published May 18, it said “the story has fallen apart over the past 48 hours, culminating Thursday evening with state Assemblyman Brian Maher, R-Walden, who had been advocating for the veterans in national media and in the state Legislature, denouncing it as false in a call with the Times Union.” Maher said he came to that conclusion after Sharon Toney-Finch, the CEO of the Yerik Israel Toney Foundation, failed to show him the proof he sought of payments for veterans’ hotel rooms. The Times-Union said it was unable to reach Toney-Finch this week. The Post has since added an editor’s note to its story that says, “This non-profit CEO has since been accused of misrepresenting the veterans who have been displaced for migrants.”
Homeless veterans are being booted from New York hotels to make room for asylum-seekers who just arrived in the country.
A nonprofit group that works with veterans was notified that a hotel housing 15 of its clients had to make room for migrants this week, according to the New York Post.
Two other hotels housing five veterans in Orange County notified the former service members that they were to vacate.
Sharon Toney-Finch, the CEO of the Yerik Israel Toney Foundation, revealed that the veterans were being moved to make room for migrants arriving in New York.
“Our veterans have been placed in another hotel due to what’s going on with the immigrants,” she told the Post.
UNBELIEVABLE!!!
Homeless veterans are being KICKED OUT OF NY hotel rooms to make room for migrants, according to advocates.
THEY DESERVE BETTER!!!!! pic.twitter.com/YEEt0Is4vN
— Graham Allen (@GrahamAllen_1) May 13, 2023
It’s likely that the hotels in question were offered a higher nightly fee to house migrants, according to the Post.
New York City has taken to busing migrants to other counties of the state, with Mayor Eric Adams claiming the city is unable to house and care for migrants arriving in turn from Texas and Arizona, according to The New York Times.
“They want to get paid… 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,” Toney-Finch said of the hotels.
The three hotels which moved the veterans out declined to comment in response to the outlet’s inquiry.
Homeless Veterans Kicked Out Of Hotels To Allow Migrants To Move In, Support Group Says https://t.co/a4OACFYsuw pic.twitter.com/61Mi4gzWuW
— Daily Wire News (@DailyWireNews) May 13, 2023
All 20 of the veterans housed by the Yerik Israel Toney Foundation have since been moved to other accommodations, according to the Post.
However, the sudden move — two weeks after the service members took up residency in the hotels — has jeopardized the trust that the foundation held with the struggling veterans.
Some of those booted are veterans of the Vietnam War, according to the nonprofit CEO.
“A lot of them are Vietnam veterans,” she said.
“We do help them on a constant basis to get them benefits and help them find a place in society.”
“Now we have to work from ground zero,” Toney-Finch said of the development.
“We just lost that trust [with the vets].”
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
