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Just an FYI. Passing this resolution is in everyone's best interest (especially the affected families), with the exception, of course, of the executives of the company that owns the shelter (and Steve Bellone). They are the only ones who stand to gain from warehousing families who have fallen on hard times. These families have no cooking facilities, are crammed into tiny rooms and are forced to cross Motor Parkway every day just to feed their families the only food around (fast food). They deserve better as do the residents of the surrounding communities.
Just an FYI. Passing this resolution is in everyone's best interest (especially the affected families), with the exception, of course, of the executives of the company that owns the shelter (and Steve Bellone). They are the only ones who stand to gain from warehousing families who have fallen on hard times. These families have no cooking facilities, are crammed into tiny rooms and are forced to cross Motor Parkway every day just to feed their families the only food around (fast food). They deserve better as do the residents of the surrounding communities.
Digging further into this, it looks like some residents of Commack and Hauppauge aren't concerned as much for these families as they are their community, overcrowded schools, and alleged lack of funding from social services/NYS to offset expenses within the districts.
From a community webpage:
Quote:
I have been a Hauppauge resident for 36 years. I moved here when I was just 2 and am now raising my children here. I wanted my children to grow up in the same kind of community that I grew up in. I want to protect them and shelter them for as long as I can from all the drugs, gangs and violence, as long as I possibly can. Hauppauge once was that community. I fear that it is just a matter of time that we become one of the undesirable neighborhoods to live in.
My family struggles to live the lifestyle I have always wanted for us. We are hardly surviving on one income and give up a lot to remain in our home. Bills get paid monthly and rarely is there ever any extra money for activities. I understand what it is like to be in a difficult place during hard times. I help people when I am able to do so. However, these Mega Shelters that are suddenly popping up around us may be the cause of my own family losing everything we have. Taxes go up every year, bills go up every year, but my husband’s salary does not go up every year. I fear that the day will come that we will be forced into the same position that the homeless shelter families are in. By ignoring our request, you are creating this problem. Long Island is already so expensive to live and you will be pushing many young families to move elsewhere. Maybe that is your plan…to make Long Island the Supreme Safety Net!
Our schools are overcrowded already and our teachers are overworked. The common core and the class size are nearly unbearable. Hauppauge has already cut many class programs that use to be a wonderful enrichment to our children’s lives, with this new burden, I can only imagine all that will be taken from them. It hurts to know that I invested 36 years of my life into this community and in just a few years, people who do not even live in my community can make the decision to change the entire dynamic of what this community has been all these years.
I can only hope now that you will hear the pleas of those advocating for our family, our neighbors, our schools and our community. Each and every one of us can rest our heads knowing that we tried to advocate and do what we believe is right for us. If you continue this plan and deny our request, we will point our finger and hold Steve Bellone also the Human Services committee responsible for destroying our community!
In all fairness, the situation sucks. One of the upsides to those who chose Hauppauge was low taxes brought about by all the industrial properties within the district. It looks like this megashelter situation might be one of the downsides as well. The Town of Smithtown already has had issues with Section 8 alleged bias; one has to wonder whether some of this is unfair payback?
It was appalling to read that NY has a safetly net program in which we take in homeless from other states and house/provide for them indefinitely. The taxpayers do need to be taken into consideration, and this safety net policy is a state level one. Like so many other things which Cuomo distances himself from, this has to be brought to his attention and he needs to be held accountable.
I can certainly understand where you are coming from, but this can happen anywhere in the county if this precedent is set. There is a Suffolk County law that limits all homeless shelters to a maximum of 12 families and another that ensures there will never be more than 48 homeless families sheltered within a 2 mile radius. The County Executive and DSS just blatantly ignored these laws and did what they wanted without even communicating their desire to break the law when creating this new shelter.
There is already a huge shelter (a former Wingate Inn) less than 1.5 miles away from this facility. They have almost 400 rooms at that facility. The new Commack shelter has 96 families residing there. Over 65 percent of the homeless population in Suffolk are being housed at these two facilities wIthin a mile and a half of one another.
DSS openly admits they are looking to open more of these mega shelters out east. Why? It is clear to me that they are interested in welcoming even more homeless folks from other states and collecting even more money from the Federal Government. It's just an opportunity for CHI execs to make money and for Steve Bellone to continue to help out his cronies. Let's pray he doesn't also see a personal financial opportunity in this money making scheme.
Last edited by Japanese Maple; 12-07-2013 at 06:53 PM..
It's extremely profitable for the owners of the facilities, usually flea-bag motels/hotels. The state/county pays much better than even business travelers.
Back in the early '90's, the biggest industry on the upper West-side of Manhattan was social services. Of course, the city's real estate market has shot-up like a comet, but here on LI, where the economy is DOA, social services makes lots of sense.
In defense of the homeless families, I get the sense these are mostly working folks who were displaced by the destruction from Sandy, not Section 8 Welfare cases. Still, placing such homeless in areas such as Commack and Hauppauge makes little sense. Of course, look at how the town and county are being run... any wonder?
Speaking about the way the county is run.... DSS can't even figure out how many homeless students are getting educated in a particular school district!
Either the county truly can't keep track of this basic information (and Federal Law) or they are continuing to lie about what is going on at this facility. Either way it is pretty scary.
(By the way, these numbers are solely based on the one shelter in question... not total # of homeless in the district.)
Dont shelter the homeless in anything that makes them comfortable. The best thing to do is make it so undesirable that they will flee west to NYC...or better yet....some lower class state like Virginia.
It's extremely profitable for the owners of the facilities, usually flea-bag motels/hotels. The state/county pays much better than even business travelers.
Back in the early '90's, the biggest industry on the upper West-side of Manhattan was social services. Of course, the city's real estate market has shot-up like a comet, but here on LI, where the economy is DOA, social services makes lots of sense.
In defense of the homeless families, I get the sense these are mostly working folks who were displaced by the destruction from Sandy, not Section 8 Welfare cases. Still, placing such homeless in areas such as Commack and Hauppauge makes little sense. Of course, look at how the town and county are being run... any wonder?
It is interesting that you mention Sandy. Someone just brought this interesting info to my attention:
At a meeting in November, someone who said the were residing at the shelter in question stated, "Unfortunately, I got into an accident in September and I am no longer able to work." She said this on the record to the voting members of the Human Services Committee, as well as, the community members in attendance. Here is a link to the transcript... http://legis.suffolkcountyny.gov/clerk/cmeet/hs/2013/HS110813.pdf (see page 12)
I am so glad I moved off Long Island. I just like to come back here to laugh sometimes. I don't miss working 70 hours per week just to pay my $15,000 a year in property taxes just so that I can house and live next door to the homeless and illegals. If I wanted to live next door to homeless and meth heads, I would work only 20 hours a week in Walmart and buy a trailer in West Virginia.
I have questions regarding the out-of-state homeless:
1) How are they getting to the megashelter from out of state? Are the owners of the megashelter actually transporting them from out of state so they have more customers? Are out of state welfare departments dumping their clients on Long Island somehow?
2) I hear conflicting stories as to why they are coming to LI. One is that the welfare parent(s) are losing their welfare in other states because of failing the drug tests and are coming to LI because of that. Another is that they are coming to NY from Virginia because Virginia has a 5 year limit on welfare and they reached the end of that and NY has no limit on welfare. Yet, again, how and why are these people from out of state being attracted directly to the megashelter on LI of all places?
3) Is it true that NY State will not reimburse LI school districts with any state aid for out-of-state shelter resident students like they do for LI resident students, so each out-of-state shelter student's education directly costs the local school district taxpayers 100% out of pocket?
4) Is it true that Steve Bellone has a direct financial interest in the megashelter industry on LI?
I think any resolutions to be addressed should include PROHIBITIONS on paying welfare, schooling and homeless housing for out-of-state indigent people until they have been self-supporting (not receiving welfare checks from out of state) residents for at least one continuous year to avoid this practice of dumping out-of-state people in shelters on Long Island. We have enough taxes to pay here and Long Island, as a high cost area, is too hard for people with absolutely NOTHING to be expected to make a life for themselves ... look at the rents alone. How are people like this from out of state ever going to be able to get off welfare and make it here? They are much more likely to be permanent wards of the taxpayers ... something we don't need. Let them stay in their own states until they can afford to live here.
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