{"id":38853,"date":"2025-11-05T07:47:28","date_gmt":"2025-11-05T07:47:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/38853\/"},"modified":"2025-11-05T07:47:28","modified_gmt":"2025-11-05T07:47:28","slug":"nassau-gifts-sleazy-drug-infested-former-motel-for-20m-project-to-house-struggling-veterans-officials","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/38853\/","title":{"rendered":"Nassau gifts sleazy drug-infested former motel for $20M project to house struggling veterans: officials"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nassau County gifted a sleazy abandoned motel overrun by drugs and prostitution to a nonprofit that will spend $20 million to convert the site into housing for struggling veterans<\/a>, officials said Monday.<\/p>\n

County Executive Bruce Blakeman <\/a>(R) signed over the deed to the former Long Beach Motor Inn property in Island Park to the Tunnel to Towers Foundation in a deal that will build 58 affordable units for \u201ctransitional\u201d homeless veterans who meet income requirements.<\/p>\n

Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman signing an executive order. James Messerschmidt<\/p>\n

Exterior of the former Long Beach Motor Inn at 3915 Austin Blvd in Island Park. Google Maps<\/p>\n

The deal will build 58 affordable units for \u201ctransitional\u201d homeless veterans who meet income requirements. James Messerschmidt<\/p>\n

The county fought to close the property and took it over in 2014.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe county will deed over to Tunnels to Towers \u2014 a hotel that was dilapidated, drug infested, a place of prostitution, an eye sore in the community, and a danger to the community \u2014 so they could build [58] units for our veterans so they could have a home,\u201d Blakeman told reporters <\/a>moments before signing over the property at a news conference at the county legislative building.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the least we could do to make sure that our veterans have shelter, that they have a place to go and live a beautiful life in a brand new apartment in a great community,\u201d he added.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The deed for veteran housing project signed by Bruce A. Blakeman. James Messerschmidt<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the least we could do to make sure that our veterans have shelter, that they have a place to go and live a beautiful life in a brand new apartment in a great community,\u201d Blakeman added.\u00a0 James Messerschmidt<\/p>\n

Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman (Left) and Tunnel to Towers Senior VP Gavin Naples (Right) holding a signed executive order. James Messerschmidt<\/p>\n

The old property will be razed with the new facility set to be completed in 2026. It will offer veterans trying to get back on their feet far more than just a place to live, according to Gavin Naples, the senior VP for Tunnels to Towers.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

The new housing facility will include on-site support services for veteran residents such as transportation, job training, health and financial counseling, and addiction treatment \u2014 creating a comprehensive, wraparound support system intended to help veterans rebuild their lives, officials said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur ultimate objective is to provide a platform of supportive service and help veterans reintegrate back into the community, reconnect with families, go on entrepreneurial career paths, and provide long-term housing solutions for veterans that are struggling with affordable housing,\u201d Naples told The Post.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Veterans who apply<\/a> for the housing when applications become available would have to meet certain criteria, such as having been honorably discharged. They also would need to meet monthly costs of staying there \u2014 a number that Naples said hasn\u2019t been decided upon but will be a \u201cgreat deal\u201d and will not exceed the cost of affordable housing in the area.<\/p>\n

He pointed out that this program is more aimed towards those he described as \u201ctransitionally\u201d homeless rather than \u201cstreet\u201d homeless, who he said can be supported through different avenues of the non-profit.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIf anyone is wondering what good government looks like \u2014 this is it,\u201d Rep. Anthony D\u2019Esposito said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nassau County gifted a sleazy abandoned motel overrun by drugs and prostitution to a nonprofit that will spend…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":38854,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[2781,1493,131,133,132,2890,4182,19162,3649,1967,513],"class_list":{"0":"post-38853","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-long-beach","8":"tag-drugs","9":"tag-homelessness","10":"tag-long-beach","11":"tag-long-beach-headlines","12":"tag-long-beach-news","13":"tag-long-island","14":"tag-metro","15":"tag-motels","16":"tag-prostitution","17":"tag-transportation","18":"tag-veterans"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38853","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38853"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38853\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38854"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}