Hotel says ‘displaced veterans’ story is “a lie”

MID-HUDSON – A claim by the YIT Foundation and its Executive Director Sharon Finch that a Town of Newburgh hotel forced 20 homeless veterans to check out of the hotel early to make room for migrants and asylum seekers is false, says hotel management.  Finch told Mid-Hudson News that 20 homeless veterans that she works with were informed on May 12, 2023, that they had to check out the next day, creating a substantial hardship and a rush to find emergency housing for the displaced veterans that were at the hotel.

After several public officials weighed in on what Finch called “a substantial hardship because we had to find rooms in a hurry,” the story became national news, with little-to-no fact-checking.

State Assemblyman Brian Maher appeared on a national tv show, claiming that the veterans were displaced as a result of migrants from New York City being placed in the hotel.  According to the general manager of the Crossroads, that is a falsehood.  “There were no veterans here – no veterans were kicked out – and no other guests have been kicked out.”  The hotel does have a group of asylum seekers at there but the seven-year general manager noted that the hotel is not even booked to capacity and rooms are available.

This past weekend Finch told Mid-Hudson News that she was able to relocate the 20 veterans to the Wingate by Wyndham Hotel in Fishkill, with her YIT Foundation paying for the rooms.  No such guests were in the Fishkill facility, according to an employee there.  He noted that three veterans were being housed there by MHA Dutchess County but he stressed that YIT had not put any veterans in the hotel for “a long time.”

MHA Dutchess is the service provider of the MHA Dutchess Vet2Vet program.  Between MHA Dutchess directly and Vet2Vet, thousands of veterans are assisted in Dutchess County and the surrounding area each year.  Many of the veterans served are encountered through routine outreach conducted by the organizations.  MHA…