Ulster County officials describe ongoing water, septic and safety challenges at Kingston Motel used for emergency housing

Ulster County Deputy County Executive Amenta said Thursday that the Kingston Motel is the county's highest concentration of families in emergency housing and that county teams are intensifying outreach and coordination to address water, septic and safety concerns. "The Kingston Motel is our highest concentration of families in emergency housing placed anywhere," Amenta said, adding the motel allows extended stays that most hotels do not. Commissioner McDonald and Director Nordstrom described on-site services and recent efforts to move families into permanent housing.

Why it matters: The motel hosts many families for extended periods, which county officials and local legislators said raises public-health and public-safety concerns and places extra demand on local police and county services. County staff said the motel is privately owned and remains under regulatory oversight by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) for wastewater and by county health staff for potable water.

County and health staff described three linked problems: inadequate well capacity, a septic/leach field system that DEC has identified as needing…