Hochul weighs using state properties to temporarily house asylum seekers

ALBANY – Gov. Kathy Hochul said she is considering using state properties, including State University of New York and City University of New York campuses, to temporarily house asylum-seekers over this summer.

“We’re looking at all locations,” Hochul said. “We have over 71,000 people, and more are arriving.”

“I said, ‘Find all available state properties,’” Hochul said Thursday night in Rochester. “Let's analyze them. Let's see whether they're temporary short-term, whether they can be longer term.”

The state budget adopted this month provided $1 billion to local communities to help pay for the cost of housing asylum-seekers.

Sen. Jack Martins (R-Mineola) told Newsday that he was informed by SUNY that Old Westbury won’t be one of the campuses used.

SUNY won’t comment on specific campuses.

“At Governor Hochul’s direction, we are assessing whether there are SUNY resources available to help with the arrival of asylum seekers,” said SUNY spokeswoman Holly Liapis.

Hochul didn’t respond to a request for comment on whether Old Westbury is among the campuses being considered. SUNY has 64 campuses statewide, most of which have dormitories or other housing.

The asylum-seekers are fleeing human rights abuses in their Latin American countries. They entered the United States to seek asylum, a legal process that investigates and evaluates the reasons for entering the United States before they are granted admission. Asylum-seekers are given a court date, and social services mostly through charities, but so far are prohibited by federal law from seeking employment until their status is determined.

Republican governors in Texas and Arizona have sent thousands of asylum-seekers to New York City, Chicago and Washington, D.C., to protest the flow of them  into their states. Republican county executives statewide this week criticized the Biden administration for failing to provide more information on the asylum-seekers and failing to provide more funding to deal with them.

Referring to Republican governors sending busloads of migrants to New York, Martins said that was a political stunt: “Absolutely, no question about … yes, there was a lot of gamesmanship.”

But he said New York Democrats invited the trips by declaring New York City and the state a “sanctuary” for immigrants, without having a plan to deal with them. “I think the residents of New York deserve an answer,” Martins said.

Hochul said New York City Mayor Eric Adams is looking at school gymnasiums as potential temporary, short-term shelters, but the state “can do better than that.” The state is also looking for potential longer-term housing for the asylum seekers, she said,

“Clearly a SUNY campus lends itself to immediate help, but long-term, we have to have it free by August,” Hochul said, referring to the return of most students to campuses. “What happens in August? So, these are the questions we're asking right now. But we are looking at every possible property in the State of New York to help have a relief valve for the City of New York.”

With John Valenti

By Michael Gormley

michael.gormley@newsday.com@GormleyAlbany

Michael Gormley has worked for Newsday since 2013, covering state government, politics and issues. He has covered Albany since 2001.