“.We can’t operate like this when we have an obligation to homeless families in need of temporary housing assistance.” “You must understand how this feels and appears,” Miglioratti wrote. Interim conversations between the agency and Khan and her staff were confusing, she wrote. ![]() Miglioratti responded that the agency had received “mixed messages” on extending stays, and noted that it had been caught off guard by Khan’s refusal to accept new clients. Her email acknowledged that she had yet to give the agency a count of available rooms, but promised she would soon. We are not eliminating your business just limiting how many placements we can take.” “I am not sure if there is a misunderstanding,” her email began, “but just to clear any miscommunication, you are welcome to extend the people that are already staying at the hotel, not everyone needs to be closed out if they don’t need to be. On July 28, when it had become apparent to Khan that clients were being relocated, she wrote to Martinez and Miglioratti attempting to clarify her position. Within hours, the Department of Human Services issued an emergency notice to clients at Motel 6 informing them that no extensions were being granted and that everyone had to vacate on the date their placement expired.Īt the time, according to the roll call for the previous day, that meant almost everyone staying in the motel would have to leave over the next week. Monroe County has issued letters to the people using the hotel as emergency shelter through the department of human services that the county will no longer use the hotel for temporary housing. WXXI News Julia Miller and her daughter Egypt, along with her partner and six other children, have been staying in two rooms at the Motel 6 on Chili Avenue. Khan replied that it would be a few days before she could give “a more accurate answer.” ![]() Miglioratti wrote back asking how many rooms were available to house people. “This will help us make the changes we need to make.” “We will still continue doing business but will only be able to take a limited amount until we are able to take more,” Khan wrote. She explained that renovations were underway and that the motel had “lots of rooms closed down for pest control.” Khan wrote back quickly to say that the motel was not ending its relationship with the Emergency Housing Unit but was limiting the number of families it could take in. The next morning, on July 26, the agency’s homeless coordinator, Rebecca Miglioratti, wrote to Khan, saying, “It appears you are discontinuing business with us,” and noted that the agency had “a lot of families we need to make arrangements for” and asked for clearer communication. Khan did not respond, according to the chain of emails. Her message prompted an almost immediate response from Martinez, who asked if Khan could share details about timing so the agency could hash out a plan to relocate people being housed at the hotel. “Until further notice we are not taking any more placements. Khan replied about two hours later with a brief message to Martinez and other advocates for the homeless. Her message asked Khan what space was available for the day, informed Khan of which clients were moving out and who needed to stay, and included a roll call for the day that listed 70 adults and 137 children who were residing in the motel. The thread began on the morning of July 25 with a message to Khan from Jennifer Martinez, a supervisor with the Department of Human Services Emergency Housing Unit, that appeared to be a routine daily update. The emails, provided to WXXI News by Khan, suggest miscommunication between the two sides and illustrate how the scramble to house so many people unfolded. ![]() The message was among a dozen emails exchanged between the hotel and the county in the lead up to the displacement of scores of families, including more than 100 children, that highlighted the dearth of shelters and affordable housing for people in need in the Rochester area. “My apologies for how this entire thing had started.” “To clear some more misunderstandings,” her email began. In fact, she wrote, there were up to 60 more rooms available in addition to the rooms already occupied. There was no need to uproot families, some of whom had been living there for more than a month, wrote the owner, Bisma Khan. Two days after the Monroe County Department of Human Services began pulling homeless families from emergency housing placements at the Motel 6 on Chili Avenue, the hotel’s owner sent an email plea to agency supervisors.
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