Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone Issues Emergency Order On Migrant Housing

HAUPPAUGE, NY — As the City of New York continued to face a shortage of housing for asylum seekers on Friday, Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone issued an emergency order, "allowing for a coordinated response to the crisis and to help protect the financial interests of the county," officials stated in a news release.

The executive order also formalizes the county’s objection to the city’s approach of busing asylum seekers to random hotels across the state, "which is a disservice to both county residents and the individuals seeking asylum," the news release stated.

The emergency order "instead reiterates the county’s calls for a coordinated approach in which the state will serve as the lead agency, working to identify potential federal and state sites to temporarily house asylum seekers," according to the news release.

The order formalizes the creation of an intergovernmental team, which is made up of leadership from Bellone's office, the Department of Social Services, and the police, that will continue to coordinate directly with the state "regarding the ongoing crisis," officials said.

The team is expected to communicate and coordinate with local not-for-profits regarding resources that are available to assist in meeting the challenges faced by those impacted by this ongoing situation, according to officials.

As part of the order, hotels, motels, or shelters, would need the permission of the county to engage in a contract with any other municipality to house asylum seekers, and the outside municipality would be responsible for assuming any and all cost expended by any municipality within Suffolk, officials said.

Suffolk continues to face a shortage of temporary and permanent housing options, specifically county-maintained and contracted shelters have reached capacity as social services works to support individuals facing homelessness, according to officials.

Bellone said he issued an emergency order as the city "continues to grapple with a shortage of available housing options for families and individuals fleeing desperate circumstances and legally seeking asylum."

“We remain supportive of Governor [Kathy Hochul’s] coordinated and humane approach to addressing this crisis and this emergency order serves to protect the local communities from bearing any costs associated with the potential arrival of asylum seekers," he said.

There have not been any specific plans put forth for transporting asylum seekers to Suffolk County.

Bellone and Bruce Blakeman have previously said that Mayor Eric Adams' administration has not asked to house migrants in Suffolk or Nassau.

Earlier this week, there was a report that Stony Brook University had been identified as a location to possibly receive people for housing.

Gov. Kathy Hochul on Wednesday said that officials are reviewing all the state's assets, including schools, to see what is appropriate.

But the possibility has caused some concerns among lawmakers.

Claims that migrants could be shipped to locations in Riverhead prompted Supervisor Yvette Aguiar to declare a State of Emergency last week.

It was based on information received and in response to reports that the city's Department of Homeless Services has, or will arrange for, the transportation and relocation of undocumented migrants and/or asylum seekers to hotels or motels within the town, officials said.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams or a representative of his reached out to Riverhead motels and hotels to assess their availability for delivering migrants, according to Aguiar.

One day later on Wednesday, the Suffolk County Supervisors' Association released a statement on Wednesday saying that its members want "it understood that the issue regarding migrants and their placement in New York State is the sole responsibility of our federal government officials…the President, and both houses of Congress."

"They all need to step up, stop finger-pointing, and finally, figure out how to handle this issue," the statement continued. "Fix the system like we have been asking them to do for years. It should not, and cannot be left to local governments to shoulder this burden, or take on the responsibility for this issue.”

A spokesperson for Brookhaven Supervisor Ed Romaine told Patch he stood by the statement released by the association.

Southampton Supervisor Jay Schneiderman said "the gist" of the statement is that it says "to the federal government, 'This is your job, not our job.'"

But he wondered if the association was not getting ahead of itself.

In a conversation with Hochul that morning, Schneiderman said he was told that there were no plans to ship migrants to the East End.

For him, the other issue is, "Are we chasing something that doesn't exist," he wondered.

Lisa Finn contributed additional reporting to this story.