A 94-year-old Army veteran, Frank Tammaro, has been left feeling “horrible” and “bitter” after being evicted from his senior residence in New York City. The facility, Island Shores Senior Residence, abruptly shut down and forced its 53 residents, including Tammaro, to leave within a matter of weeks.
Tammaro, who served in the U.S. Army Signal Corps during the Korean War, had called Island Shores home for five years and planned to live out his remaining years there. However, in September 2022, notices were posted in the facility informing residents of its closure and instructing them to find new accommodations by March of the following year.
The facility’s owner, a New York City nonprofit called Homes for the Homeless, claimed it needed to sell Island Shores to focus on its main mission of aiding homeless families. The residents were reassured that the facility would most likely be sold to another senior operator and would be reopened.
However, when Tammaro’s daughter, Barbara Annunziata, reached out to the building’s management for answers, she was skeptical of their claims. “We knew something was going to go in there,” Annunziata said. “They kept saying, ‘oh, they’re going to sell it. They’re going to sell it.’ That’s what they kept telling me.”
With no suitable alternatives in sight, Tammaro and his fellow residents ignored the letters for months until they were forced to leave just weeks before the deadline. This proved to be a difficult task for many, including Tammaro, who had trouble finding a new assisted living facility that suited his needs.
Frank Tammaro is a 94 year-old Army veteran.
A lifelong New Yorker, he ended up living in the Island Shores Senior Center for the last 5 years.
He, and 8 other veterans, were evicted from their home to make room for illegals. They will get it free-of-charge.
“I do get upset… pic.twitter.com/UTigq5npL2
— 🇺🇸ProudArmyBrat (@leslibless) November 30, 2023
“I was not in combat,” Tammaro said. “But these boys that went over and went into combat — and now they’re all settled in there with their lives and everything else — and they’re all disrupted, it isn’t fair.”
Shortly after relocating to a new facility, Tammaro suffered a fall that landed him in the hospital. Upon his release, he told his daughter he did not want to return to the new facility. Annunziata then made the decision to care for her father in her own home.
In August 2022, it was announced that Homes for the Homeless had made a deal with city hall to use Island Shores as an emergency shelter for migrants. As the news spread, hundreds of protesters gathered outside the facility, and 10 people were arrested for trying to block a bus carrying migrants from reaching the building.
Annunziata, who had already struggled to get help for her father, expressed frustration and anger at the situation. “These migrants get everything. They’re getting everything, and I can’t get anything for [Tammaro],” she said.
Meanwhile, Tammaro has settled into his daughter’s home, only a few minutes away from his old residence, which is now called the Midland Beach Migrant Center.
While he admits to initially feeling bitter, Tammaro has found peace with his new living situation. “I was satisfied where I was until they threw me out,” he said. “But making the best of a bad situation, that’s what we’re doing.”
Homes for the Homeless declined to comment on the situation, leaving Tammaro and his daughter questioning why they were evicted from their home while migrants receive free housing and resources. Despite his initial anger and frustration, Tammaro has come to accept his new living situation and cherishes the time he gets to spend with his daughter in their home.
