Ryan says the old Newburgh SSA office had been on Washington Center for decades before abruptly closing in July 2024. Since then, the Social Security Administration opened a new office at 85 Crystal Run Road in Middletown. While that might be good news for Middletown residents, Ryan says Newburgh seniors have been abandoned.
The Democrat from the 18th District spoke with some of those seniors Monday at SUNY Orange.
“We’re gonna keep up a fight to fix this injustice and figure out a way that folks here in Newburgh have direct access to the Social Security benefits that they earned and worked their whole lives [for] and are counting on," says Ryan.
Newburgh isn't the only Hudson Valley city to lose its SSA office. Ryan says the Kingston location closed years ago for “temporary renovations” and never reopened. Lawmakers worried the same would happen to the Poughkeepsie and West Nyack offices when they recently closed for renovations — especially when the Poughkeepsie location turned up on a list of federal cuts by the Department of Government Efficiency earlier this year — but both have since reopened. The hearing office in White Plains, however, closed at the end of May. The next-closest hearing offices for Hudson Valley residents are located in Albany, the Bronx, Connecticut and New Jersey.
A lot of Social Security services are now available online, on the administration's website. But Democratic Assemblymember Jonathan Jacobson says the physical locations are still important for ensuring accessibility.
“The reason we need this Newburgh office [is], with all of the internet fraud, we can’t expect people to make their most important financial decisions online," he adds.
Multiple seniors who spoke Monday say they have difficulty navigating the site and reaching employees by phone. If they want to speak with someone in person at the Middletown office, it’s a half-hour drive by car and multiple hours by bus.
Deborah Danzy, vice chair of the Newburgh Democratic Party and an organizer with Community Voices Heard, says she recently spent $40 to take a Shortline bus round-trip from Newburgh to Middletown, just so she could pick up an award letter for her benefits. She says the bus only runs every few hours, and it didn’t actually take her to the SSA office — she still needed to get a cab.
“The cabs were like vultures sitting out there when I got off the bus. [The drivers were saying], ’Social Security? Social Security?’" she explains. "I’ve never really been frightened, it takes a lot to frighten me. But he’s driving this way and that way to increase the fare, when you could have went right up through Crystal Run Road. The buildings is all up, and it’s hard for people to see where you’re going.”
Danzy says what used to be a quick trip to her local SSA office turned into an all-morning excursion for a piece of paper.
Gabrielle Hill, a Democrat running for the 6th District of the Orange County legislature in November, says she was stunned when she went to drop off some paperwork at the Newburgh office for her mother last year, only to find it closed.
"Thirty-five percent of our population does not drive car," says Hill. "As we heard from some of our constituents, getting to Middletown is very, very difficult. Middletown is only 23 miles from the city of Newburgh. Why does it take an hour and a half for me to get there? And why do I have to wait three hours for a bus getting back?"
Ryan says he’s not sure whether the SSA will ultimately reopen the office, but he’s hoping to see at least some basic services return to Newburgh on a regular basis.
"This coalition that’s here today, we’re gonna sit down and figure out what we think is feasible between the city, the county, what our office can do, and other elected legislators," he explains. "I think, to start, the goal will be monthly, and then we'll try to build from there. Obviously, we would like the office to be fully reopened, which I think is the right thing. But I think that’s, unfortunately, with the cuts happening by the Trump Administration, unlikely. So, in the meantime, we at least want to have some starting point for folks in the city of Newburgh — and the town and the surrounding area.”
