Hundreds of asylum seekers relocated to the Capital Region from New York City in recent months have faced challenges finding work and getting resettled. But in Rotterdam, in Schenectady County, people who were living at the Super8 Motel before the migrants arrived in July have also had to scramble.
"It was supposed to be for a week. But when we got there, they said they were closing," said 59-year-old Rhonda Flanagan, who stayed just one night in the Super8. She had been homeless in Amsterdam. Montgomery County Social Services had intervened and transported her to Rotterdam.
The night of July 18th, buses carrying migrants, including women and children, arrived under heavy security, filling 85 out of 100 rooms several hours after guests, including indigent residents like Flanagan, were evicted from the motel on the pretense that the facility would be shut down for one year.
Flanagan says she met a few fellow-soon-to-be evicted residents, including a woman staying there with four children.
"One lady was elderly, you know, she found herself caught up in this after her apartment had flooded and she couldn't find something affordable to replace it," Flanagan said. "So she was at the hotel. I talked to her for a little while. She was very scared. It was very frightening."
Flanagan, a former property owner and landlord, says she landed on the street after a divorce.
"This has been ongoing for me the past seven years to try to find housing because I don't qualify," said Flanagan. "The only thing with affordable housing is you need to have a you need to be on some sort of public assistance. Maybe you have children, you're mentally disabled, you have mental health issues. We have some new affordable housing for substance abuse disorders. But if you don't qualify for any of that, unfortunately, you're not going to get in, you know, an application on the waiting list for affordable housing."
Rotterdam town and Schenectady County officials said they were caught off-guard by the migrants' arrival and the motel guests' evictions. The county soon declared a state of emergency.
Governor Kathy Hochul spoke about the situation during a visit to Amsterdam Tuesday.
"We don't always have that information because it's the city's responsibility to place individuals. They set up the contracts wherever they can find the space, they work it out with the local hotels but when we get the notice and we're always asking for it we want to also make sure that people have an idea of what's going to be happening as well the local leaders," said Hochul.
Complicating Flanagan's plight is the fact she was arrested more than once for pitching her tent on public property. She says her record doesn't sit well with landlords.
"They're putting up people that are coming to our country, which is fine. I'm all for people fleeing violence. And you know, we're welcoming, but these people aren't even citizens. And I know people were complaining about that in my community. They don't want to house people that aren't citizens. And I'm caught up in it here. I'm a citizen, and I'm not being helped," said Flanagan, who is heartened by Hochul’s promise to build affordable housing in Amsterdam, but that’s going to take quite some time to materialize.
She that landlords usually ask for a deposit, the first month's rent and more in advance, and that $3,000 or more out-of-pocket is out of the question for most unhoused people.
"I worked in Albany for years, I commuted. I was a professional. So once your car is gone, and you don't have a place to live, it's like a horrible cycle of you go to apply for a job, you don't have housing, you can't get the job, you go to get housing, you don't have an income now because you don't have a job. So it's this horrible loop , this cycle that you can just be put in and stay in and all these agencies tell you, there's nothing they can do," Flanagan said.
In declaring the emergency, Schenectady County Manager Rory Fluman says a housing shortage is being exacerbated by the asylum seekers staying at the Super8. Fluman issued an "Emergency Order Extension" Thursday that prohibits "foreign municipal programs that burden the county," an obvious reaction to New York City's migrant export program. Fluman has not returned calls from WAMC. State and local officials have asked Attorney General Tish James to investigate the evictions.
