Senator Walczyk Calls For Construction of Veterans Home In '24-'25 State Budget

On November 24th, 2021, Senator Walczyk and Assemblyman Ken Blankenbush penned a letter to Governor Kathy Hochul, asking for her consideration in addressing the lack of housing for North Country Veterans. It took 643 days for any state agency to acknowledge the correspondence. In that time, two follow up letters were sent requesting a plan to better serve Veterans of the North Country. 

The response came from Department of Health Commissioner, James V. McDonald, stating this year's enacted budget included funding for the development and modernization for the existing Veterans Homes in New York. There are currently four veterans homes in New York State: Batavia, Oxford, Montrose, and Queens. The closest location for most 49th Senate District Veterans is hours away. 

Long Island hosts a veterans home with a population of 2% Veterans, the 49th Senate District goes without this service despite Jefferson County having a 14% Veterans population, 7% for St. Lawrence County, and Herkimer County having a Veterans population of 9%. There are roughly 20,000 veterans in Jefferson and St. Lawrence counties alone. Clearly, North Country and Mohawk Valley Veterans are underserved, the Senator is calling on the Governor to include funding to create a Veterans Home in the 49th Senate District.

“Forcing Veterans to live off of inadequate vouchers or live hours away from their homes and families is not how you take care of the ones who have served. The Veterans of New York State have made incredible sacrifices to protect our freedom and keep our country safe. The least we could do is provide adequate veteran housing to all regions of the state. The Governor vows to make affordable housing a priority to New Yorkers, she can start by funding a Northern New York veterans home.”
 

Senator Mark Walczyk represents the 49th Senate District, which includes the entire counties of Jefferson, Lewis, Hamilton and Fulton. As well as parts of Oswego, St. Lawrence, and Herkimer counties. Sign up for exclusive updates from the Senator via his weekly newsletter by clicking HERE or by emailing walczyk@nysenate.gov.