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In a State of Emergency declaration issued Tuesday night, May 16, the Town of Riverhead barred hotels, inns, bed and breakfasts, and other “transient lodging units” from accepting any migrants or asylum seekers for housing in town limits.
The move comes after town officials learned that the New York City Department of Homeless Services reached out to hotels and motels in Riverhead “to assess availability of such facilities for delivery of migrants from New York City,” according to the executive order issued by Town Supervisor Yvette Aguiar.
“There is reasonable apprehension of immediate danger of public emergency of hundreds, or potentially, thousands of persons being transported to the Town of Riverhead,” Aguiar continued.
The declaration states that arriving migrants could overburden the Riverhead Central School District, which reportedly has enrollments “near or beyond” maximum capacity.
“The Town of Riverhead is experiencing the practical and socioeconomic impacts or natural migration into the Town and the Riverhead Central School District, and currently provides and bears the burden of a disproportionate share of low-income housing as compared with surrounding municipalities,” the order states.
"Relative to the surrounding townships on the East End and throughout Suffolk County, Riverhead has done more than its share when it comes to housing the homeless, providing services and offering affordable housing and our resources and taxpayers simply cannot withstand further demand on our public services.”
Any migrants taken in by hotels or other short stay facilities in Riverhead will face “refusal or eviction” through enforcement of local zoning codes, Aguiar said, adding that the result would be “large-scale homelessness.”
The executive order also states that New York City must reimburse the Town of Riverhead for any expenses incurred as a result of the program to relocate asylum seekers.
Tuesday’s action follows similar State of Emergency declarations in the Hudson Valley, in Orange and Rockland counties, after New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced plans to bus hundreds of asylum seekers to the region to be temporarily housed at motels.
The program would “provide up to four months of temporary sheltering in nearby New York counties, outside of New York City, to single-adult men seeking asylum who are already in the city’s care,” Adams said.
That plan stemmed from an expected surge in migrants into the city following the expiration of what’s known as Title 42, a federal policy that allowed authorities to quickly turn away migrants at the US-Mexico border.
Despite fears of a potential rush of migrants at the southern border, however, CNN reports that there has actually been “a much narrower” influx of migrants than expected since the policy expired on Thursday, May 11.
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