The City of Ithaca ordered occupants of the 181-unit Asteri building to vacate the residential tower due to an “immediate threat” to the safety of residents, effective immediately, according to a Wednesday night press release sent to The Sun by Ithaca Chief Information Officer Alan Karasin. Other residents saw Asteri as a recreation of “the Jungle,” a large homeless encampment behind big-box retail stores in the south of Ithaca. “The new ‘Jungle’ is basically Asteri,” a self-described ‘Jungle drifter’ said during a November interview with The Sun. In the wake of the order to vacate Asteri, the fate of those who made the decision to move from the Jungle to the Commons remains unclear. “The Ithaca Fire Department and Ithaca Building Division have stated that their highest priority is the health and wellbeing of residents in every housing unit in the City,” Karasin wrote.

Source: Daily Sun March 05, 2026 10:15 UTC