Is it safe to say that, right now, no one is happy with our solutions for the homeless in southern Chautauqua County?

Taxpayers can’t be happy, either, given the service being provided at the ever-expanding cost of temporary housing assistance. State Sen. George Borrello and Assemblyman Andrew Molitor are pushing the state to bring new resources to help with temporary housing because they realize that the current warehousing of the homeless in hotels isn’t helping anyone but the hotel owners.

Falconer Mayor James Jaroszynski, Ellicott Supervisor Janet Bowman and Falconer Central School residents aren’t happy that more homeless may be headed to Falconer-area hotels after the Ellicott code officer’s decision to close some of the rooms the county had been renting in the Clarion Pointe hotel on Route 60. Jaroszynski and Bowman also aren’t happy that after years of raising concerns about issues in the town and village, only the Quality Inn in Ellicott has agreed to use private security to assuage some of the concerns raised by town and village officials.

At the same time issues are being raised with Jamestown-area hotels that house the homeless, Fredonia Mayor Mike Ferguson is asking for the closure of the former Econo Lodge on Route 60 in Fredonia after violent incidents and conditions Ferguson said are “deplorable.” The Chautauqua County Department of Social Services houses homeless people at the motel, who are the majority of its tenants. Ferguson has long decried both the allegedly bad conditions of the property and the series of violent incidents that have taken place there, including an August 2024 shooting. The Econo Lodge motel chain took its name off the property in 2025.

“We had our (police) officers go into that building twice this week with our code enforcement, and it was deplorable — the amount of mold, the amount of damage, literally people asking patrolmen to take them out of there safely,” Ferguson said. “The damage is bad enough that we’re going to have to condemn the building and probably the owners will have to have it razed.”

But almost lost in the whole debate is one nugget tucked away as part of the question and answer session at County Executive PJ Wendel’s State of the County breakfast hosted by the county Chamber of Commerce recently. Wendel said that while some homeless individuals have damaged the hotels, he feels the property owners aren’t re-investing back into their hotels – leading to situations like the code-related closure of part of the Clarion Pointe hotel and the suggested demolition of the former Fredonia Econo Lodge.

“I have personally driven around and seen some of these hotels and the owners have not taken care of them. They have not done what they need,” he said.

Not only are these hotels substandard enough they not only can’t attract travelers, but aren’t safe and sanitary enough in some cases to suffice for temporary housing for the homeless. Where will we put the homeless when all of the hotels that want the DSS funding are closed because they’re unfit for people who don’t have homes?

We know people are working on solutions. We know officials at all levels of local government are frustrated. We’re failing taxpayers. We’re failing local governments. We’re failing the homeless by not having transitional services available and, apparently, by putting them in substandard hotel rooms.

Bad news on this front is coming in faster than the speed of light, it seems. In fact, comedy fans would say the news is moving at ludicrous speed, with apologies to Spacebooks and Mel Brooks. Of course, the idea of ludicrous speed was a gag in Spaceballs. The absurdity of the homeless situation in Jamestown and Chautauqua County, combined with the snail’s pace we’re seeing solutions become available, is no laughing matter.