By: Mario Mancini
There is rampant homelessness in the Hamptons on the east end of Long Island and people have resorted to living in tents. The New York Post has recently written an exclusive story that describes the makeshift camps that migrant workers are living in in the thick woods directly behind the very neighborhoods that they labor in each day.
Southampton and Westhampton are just two of the upscale tiny towns that are dealing with a lack of housing of the very people who spend their days serving the rich and elite. Jack Morphet and Bruce Golding of The New York Post interviewed several of the men living in the camps, “I work for very rich people in the Hamptons but I can’t afford somewhere to live,” said Juan Antonio Morales, 40. “I am paid very little and an apartment costs too much money.”
Morales told The New York Post he spends most of the day hanging out at a nearby 7-Eleven store where contractors pick up day laborers to work off the books. Morales, who’s been in the US for about 15 years and has a wife and two kids in Guatemala, said he usually gets hired two days a week and makes about $200 a day.
The Legal Aid Society of Suffolk County, which said it counts some of the workers among its clients, decried their living situation as tragic.
“It’s an absolute tragedy that we have hardworking people working tirelessly to improve the lives of all who live here but can’t afford a safe place to lay their heads,” said Bryan Browns, chief legal operations officer at the organization.
“At the Legal Aid Society of Suffolk County, we have resources including food, tents and clothing to help any person that is homeless in Suffolk County thanks to the generous donations of ordinary citizens in the US.”
Meanwhile, the NY Post reported another amazing story, evidently illegal migrants have been transplanted into the wealthy paradise of the Hamptons!
The Post reported that illegal immigrants were living in the woods amid the area’s sprawling mansions — as outraged online commenters blamed nouveau-riche property owners and liberal voters.
“I haven’t seen homelessness in the Hamptons at all. The first I heard of it was when I read it in The Post,” a woman in Southampton told the Post,
“I see those guys at the 7-Eleven in the morning waiting for work. I would imagine it’s impossible for them to find housing because it’s very expensive, but you don’t see homelessness around town.”
Bill Gallo, 74, of Remsenburg, told the NY Post “I had no idea. I can’t imagine people here even know.”
“I bought a home in the Hamptons in 2015. I spend half my time in Florida and half my time here,” the retired grain trader said.
Evidently, low-income housing is coming to the Hamptons, which is sure to be a huge hit among those who pay the huge tax bills of Long Island and the elitist celebrities and influencers who inhabit the Hamptons.
Southampton is reviewing plans for 60 units on a site behind the Southampton Full Gospel Church along Route 27, where The Post found illegal immigrants living in the woods.
The nonprofit developer, Concern Housing, said they hope to start construction in December but the migrants “will not be eligible for the affordable housing because they must have a legal status.”
