KINGSTON – Ulster County Executive Jen Metzger, Tuesday, directed the county Department of Social Services to halt emergency housing placements at the Rodeway Inn in the Town of Ulster over state Department of Environmental Conservation violation of the motel’s wastewater operating permit.
The County Health Department was notified by the state agency on Thursday, April 27.
The following day, Metzger conducted an unannounced visit to the motel to inspect the conditions firsthand and made the decision to end all emergency housing placements at the location.
The motel’s State Pollution Discharge Elimination System permit, which is required by law, had expired in 2018.
Ulster Social Services places some 300-400 unhouses individual adults and families with children in emergency housing each month.
Those facilities include two local shelters and approximately 20 hotels and motels as emergency housing, and the cost of those rooms is shared by the county and state.
“We need to move away from the current system of using motels for emergency housing and create alternatives that are more stable and that provide services for emergency housing residents on site,” Metzger said.
She acknowledged that will take time, but the county has two projects in the works – development of a county-owned emergency housing facility for families and the county-supported project by RUPCO to create transitional housing with wrap-around services at the former Quality Inn in the Town of Ulster.
Metzger said at the same time, the root cause of must be tackled “by expanding the supply of permanent housing that people can afford.”
She said she will be presenting a proposal to the county legislature for a new housing action fund in the coming weeks.
The executive has also initiated an independent evaluation of the county’s emergency housing system in partnership with Legislator Abe Uchitelle, chairman of the Health, Human Services and Housing Committee, and other members of the…
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