Dozens of seniors were evicted from a New York City nursing home in order to convert the facility into a migrant shelter, Fox News Digital reported Wednesday.
Frank Tammaro, a 94-year-old Army veteran and lifelong New Yorker, told the news outlet that he was booted from the Island Shores Senior Residence after being a resident for five years.
In September 2022, the facility issued a notice informing its 53 residents that it was shutting down operations and that they would need to move out by March. However, the nonprofit Homes for the Homeless, which owned the senior living facility, said in a statement that the preferred buyer for the building “would be another senior operator.”
Barbara Annunziata, Tammaro’s daughter, told Fox News Digital staff assured residents that the facility would likely be sold and reopened.
Tammaro learned in August that the facility would no longer house seniors but instead be converted into a migrant shelter, now called the Midland Beach Migrant Center.
SILive.com reported that Republican Councilman David Carr and Republican Representative Nicole Malliotakis contacted the organization with multiple parties interested in potentially purchasing the facility. Carr stated they were met with “dead silence” from the organization and eventually told that it was no longer looking to sell the building.
“What happened over the course of the previous eight to 10 months that made this institution go from wanting to sell … to now, a shelter?” Carr stated. “Clearly, someone at Homes for the Homeless saw an opportunity. An opportunity for them to get another profitable contract and do what they do in other places.”
Tammaro told the news outlet that he “felt horrible” when he learned he would have to leave the nursing home. He called the situation “very scary.”
“I didn’t know where I was going,” he added.
“I do get upset when I see them handing out all this money and all these things, and I’m paying taxes and getting kicked out,” Tammaro continued. “I’ve never got anything from the city. Or the state.”
“I was not in combat,” Tammaro said, referring to his time in the Army. “But these boys that went over and went into combat — and now they’re all settled in there with their lives and everything else — and they’re all disrupted, it isn’t fair.”
Tammaro moved into another senior living facility, but after suffering a fall that landed him in the hospital, he moved in with his daughter.
Annunziata stated, “These migrants, they’re getting everything. They’re getting everything and I can’t get nothing for [Tammaro]. It angers me.”
“I can’t even get him an aide. I only could get him an aide for 30 days and then they cancel it,” she continued. “Meanwhile, [migrants] get everything. And he’s not entitled to anything.”
“They’re worried about the migrants more than they’re worried about the U.S. citizens,” Annunziata declared.
In September, a large group of protesters gathered in Staten Island to block a bus carrying migrants who were headed to the facility. Ten protesters were taken into custody after a clash with local law enforcement.
New York City Democratic Mayor Eric Adams called the protest “an ugly display.”
The former Island Shores Senior Residence was one of 200 buildings in the city turned into shelters for housing migrants.
Homes for the Homeless declined a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
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