Falconer looks for action on hotels for homeless
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FALCONER – Falconer Village Board members are looking at possible changes to village law to address issues village officials say are created by housing the homeless at hotels in Falconer and Ellicott.
During the board's meeting Tuesday, the role of local hotels and motels in providing housing for individuals experiencing homelessness and serving as ‘Cold Blue’ shelters was discussed.
"This keeps coming up as a concern for the residents, and we're doing the best we can to address it," said Falconer Mayor James Jaroszynski.
Jaroszynski said he and Greg Peterson, village attorney, have been in contact with legal counsel for the New York State Conference of Mayors (NYCOM) about how best to address this ongoing issue.
"We are looking at how to properly regulate and deal with the issue of housing people in the hotels and motels -temporarily," he said. "We also have an upcoming meeting scheduled with Commissioner Carmelo Hernandez (Director of Community Mental Hygiene Services and Commissioner of Social Services) to address some of our concerns."
Brandon Shelters, Ellicott code officer, said during the Ellicott Town Board's August meeting that he is inspecting the hotel every Monday and had been called there once or twice a day for the prior two weeks. The county Social Services Department is putting office space in the building, with Shelters saying that may mean he isn't responding to the hotel as often. But, Shelters said, he doesn't think the Social Services Department is following the contract that is in place.
The county has initiated a three-offense ticket system, but the hotel owners have told Shelters they would like to see those who violate their contract to be removed after one offense.
The issue was discussed by Ellicott Town Board members during their August and September meetings, with Police Chief Dan Ingrao saying police responses to the hotel were the same in July as it had been in the past five months.
"This is a real problem for our village, and for our residents," said Jaroszynski.