CONGERS, NY – A Facebook post by an occupant of one of the rooms at the RainTree Motel in Congers sparks an investigation by County and Town Officials.

We were on scene today as employees of the Clarkstown Building Department and Rockland Department of Social Services and Health Department were performing inspections on various rooms.

The Rockland County Health Department will be issuing a violation letter to the Raintree Motel for the numerous violations found during today’s inspection.

The two Department of Social Services clients who had been occupying rooms will be moved to other accommodations.

The owner of the property allowed us access to take photos in selected rooms. (Photos below)

Statement from County Executive Ed Day

The Raintree Motel is one of few locations that accepts clients from the Rockland County DSS to provide shelter to a family or individual on a temporary basis when there are no other immediate available options and the family or individual would otherwise be homeless. To be clear. … Clients are not placed specifically at the Motel but are presented with the list of options however Raintree currently has the lowest rates and that seemingly attracts clients to that location as this funding is extremely limited. We (County DSS) do not have a contract with Raintree and never have.

Today, the Rockland County Departments of Health (DOH) and Social Services (DSS) visited and inspected the Raintree Motel in Congers in response to photos which were shared locally on social media. The Department of Health had previously inspected the property on November 30, 2018 for its annual permit inspection and found no violations. Upon re-inspection today, specifically of the rooms being occupied by two clients of the Department of Social Services, numerous violations were found; prompting an inspection of the entire property.

A violation letter will be issued by the Department of Health and hand delivered to the owner of the motel Tuesday morning (5/28). County Health Inspectors will revisit the motel next Friday (5/31) and if the violations have not been corrected fines will be issued through the Board of Health under the Rockland County Sanitary Code. From there they will appear at the County Health Department tribunal facing fines of $2000 per day per violation.

We have an understanding that the Town Of Clarkstown has cited them also in the past and there are ongoing current cases in Town court.

Our Commissioner of DSS will additionally be advising the owners of the Raintree Motel that should any future violations be founded, their motel will immediately be removed from the advisory eligibility list supplied to clients for temporary housing. The few remaining motels in the county will be utilized by clients by their choice instead as an obvious necessity.

With respect to the two clients of DSS who had been occupying rooms at the Motel they are being relocated to other accommodations.

We ask that any residents of Rockland County with concerns about sanitary conditions in homes, apartments or hotels/motels please contact the Department of Health. If we don’t know about problems we cannot take action to see them corrected. Complaints can be made via our website http://rocklandgov.com/departments/health/housing/rockland-codes-initiative/ or by phone 845-364-2585.