City Often Unable to Access Illegally Converted Homes

Thompson Calls for More Inspectors, Warrants

By Conor Greene

The city Building Department’s response to the issue of illegally converted residences is “inadequate,” according to Comptroller William Thompson, who argues that the inability of inspectors to gain access to homes is a major problem.

The audit’s findings, which the mayoral candidate released alongside Borough President Helen Marshall at a press conference last Wednesday, reaffirm what many residents, civic leaders and elected officials have long known - landlords are tempted to carve buildings up into smaller units due to lack of enforcement, putting a strain on city services and placing residents and firefighters in danger.

Inspectors from the DOB’s Queens Quality of Life Unit, created to respond to illegal conversions, were not able to gain access to almost 40 percent of the properties that had complaints filed against them in fiscal year 2008, according to the audit. Despite multiple visits to many properties, inspectors were unable to gain access in about two thirds of field inspections made that year. The DOB requested access warrants for less than one percent of the properties inspectors couldn’t access.

“This is simply disgraceful. Illegal conversions not only reduce the quality of life in a neighborhood by causing overcrowding and placing a strain on essential services, but pose serious safety risks by creating potentially unsafe living conditions and causing noncompliance with building and fire codes,” said Thompson.

Marshall, speaking with Thompson in front of Borough Hall, said this is a problem she has tried to address for years. “The problem that has been persistent has been access,” said Marshall. “Access has always been the problem... So many people are living in overcrowded situations.”

Thompson and Marshall called on the city to hire more inspectors. “Without the inspectors it doesn’t work,” said Marshall, noting that the problem puts a strain on a host of services including schools, sanitation and infrastructure, in addition to the safety concerns. She also mentioned a recent fatal fire in Brooklyn in an illegally converted rooming house.

Under DOB procedures, an inspector is required to conduct a follow up visit if access isn’t gained during the first attempt. If there is no access on the second attempt, the complaint is closed. The DOB can request access permits from the state Supreme Court in cases where access was denied and inspectors found visual evidence of an illegal conversion. However, warrants were requested in less than one percent of cases, according to the audit.

“Considering the potential risk to the public, the DOB must make a greater effort to obtain access warrants,” said Thompson, who charged that the current system is a waste of resources. “If necessary, the DOB should consult with the city’s [attorneys] and seek a change in legislation to allow it to impose fines on unresponsive property owners. Having the ability to enforce such penalties would be an incentive for property owners to allow access more readily, thereby discouraging illegal conversions.”

In response to that recommendation, DOB Commissioner Robert LiMandri wrote that the department “agree[s] in part and disagree[s] in part.” The Queens Unit will work with the legal staff on obtaining warrants, but notes that the application must be supported by evidence an illegal conversion may exist, such as separate gas or electric meters, separate mailboxes, doorbells, intercoms and entry doors.

“We agree that in service of obtaining access, the [DOB] might consider legislative remedies for imposing incremental fines on property owners or occupants who fail entirely to respond to [inspection attempts],” wrote LiMandri. “However... we disagree that the Department has the authority to penalize a property owner or occupant for failing to provide access.”

In its written response to the audit, DOB “generally agreed with 12 of the 14 audit recommendations,” according to Thompson. In a statement, the DOB said the report’s authors “ignored the facts and recommended procedures that are already in place.” The department calls illegal conversions “a very serious matter” with more than 2,200violations issued last year in response. “We will continue to pursue a variety of enforcement actions to protect New Yorkers from illegal conversion hazards.”

Local civic leaders and elected officials say this problem is at the heart of many quality of life issues plaguing neighborhoods across the borough. Robert Holden, president of the Juniper Park Civic Association, said that group has been fighting against illegal conversions in the Maspeth and Middle Village area for years and has witnessed the strain overcrowded living conditions puts on a neighborhood.

“Illegal apartments are a tremendous burden to the community and put everyone at risk. More often than not illegal tenants are put in jeopardy living next to oil or gas burners with limited egress. Other tenants and neighbors living above or next to the illegal apartments must deal with the real dangers of fire,” said Holden. “The community is overburdened with more cars, noise and overcrowded schools and services. It definitely has a negative impact on the quality of life.”

Corey Bearak, president of Queens Civic Congress, said the audit brings “new attention to a significant quality of life problem long endured in Queens.” He echoed the call for legislation regarding inspector access, calling it a problem “City Hall can no longer afford to ignore.”

Aside from the safety and quality of life concerns, illegal subdivisions are costing the city money, both Thompson and Holden pointed out. According to the comptroller’s audit, the cost to the city of no-access inspections was more than $149,000. “If we were to factor in the administrative time spent by supervisors and other personnel, the cost to the city was even greater,” he noted. Said Holden: “Of course most illegal landlords don't claim the rent revenue on their taxes and we all lose again.”

City Councilman Eric Ulrich (R-Ozone Park) said much of the problem simply comes down to not having enough inspectors. “The larger problem is, there simply aren’t enough building inspectors to stay on top of all these complaints,” he said. “How do these inspectors stay on top of it when DOB doesn’t have the manpower it needs to enforce laws already on the books?”

In Ulrich’s south Queens district complaints about illegal conversions come from all neighborhoods covered by Community Board 10, according to Chairwoman Betty Braton. “We get complaints from every neighborhood in Community Board 10,” she said. “Most of our [non emergency] Building Department complaints involve such conversions, many involving alterations to homes that create dangerous living areas in cellars or attics.”

New Development Review Process Delayed

By Conor Greene

The city has agreed to allow more time for public input before launching its development challenge process, which gives the public 30 days to submit formal objections to construction projects.

Following a public hearing in Manhattan last Friday on the new Department of Building procedures, Commissioner Robert LiMandri announced that the launch date for its implementation has been pushed back to mid-April “to ensure adequate time to consider any public input.”

The new guidelines, announced in February, are intended to “give New Yorkers a stronger voice in the development of neighborhoods, create greater transparency and clarify the process for the public and for developers,” according to a press release issued by the city.

As part of the new process, New York would become the first city in the nation to require that developers place diagrams of new buildings or major alterations online so the public can view the size and scale of a proposed project. In addition, a new 30-day formal public challenge period would be implemented, during which residents could raise objections to a proposed project.

However, it is that aspect of the process that has concerned some elected officials, civic organizations and residents. There is concern that the 30-day window will create a “defacto statute of limitations” that will “actually benefit unscrupulous developers who will simply wait out the clock to avoid community challenges,” according to Councilman Tony Avella (D-Bayside) and others.

“Despite being touted by Mayor Mike Bloomberg and DOB Commissioner LiMandri as empowering the public with greater oversight over new developments, these rule changes will actually diminish the ability of residents to contest new construction,” said Avella at a press conference on the steps of City Hall, where he was joined by Assemblyman James Brennan (D-Brooklyn) and Councilwoman Rosie Mendez (D-Manhattan).

Avella, a mayoral candidate who currently is chair of the City Council’s Zoning and Franchise Committee, implored the DOB to “scrap this entire plan in its current form and go back to the drawing board.”

Brennan ripped the DOB and city for restricting public zoning complaints, an action he called “indefensible.” He is also concerned that “muzzling the public will encourage developers to submit noncompliant plans” knowing they can proceed with impunity once they get through the one-month threshold. “The public has every right to challenge zoning legality or building safety at any point in the building process,” he said, adding that the DOB must include local community boards in the process and require community notification.

Councilwoman Mendez credited the DOB with providing the public with “long-awaited online access to building plans and zoning diagrams” but agreed that the DOB shouldn’t limit the public’s ability to challenge development. “These rules have far-reaching consequences for our city and should not be implemented without adequate deliberation.”

Moreover, Avella took the opportunity to rip the “shameful” way in which DOB attempted to implement the new process, noting that the department had intended to hold a public hearing last Friday and enact the rules changes this past Monday. “This demonstrated that DOB has absolutely no intention of ever listening to the public’s comments and taking them into consideration,” he said, vowing to formulate legislation “to ensure that the public has greater opportunity to comment in any future agency rule changes.”

The call to allow more time for public input before enacting the new rules was echoed by the Queens Civic Congress, which represents 110 neighborhood groups across Queens.

“The proposal, if adopted unchanged, clearly creates an immunity for the building community” through the 30-day requirement, the group argued in a press release. The group “strongly recommends the DOB reform the proposed changes to avoid what must be an unintended consequence – that would perpetuate illegal and often hazardous development.”

The new proposal also concerns Robert Holden, president of the Juniper Park Civic Association, which has made fighting over-development and unscrupulous developers a priority. “Once again, the deck is stacked against the community. We have absolutely no confidence in the DOB nor do we trust that they are really trying to protect our neighborhoods from greedy developers,” he said. “Their bark is much worse than their bite.”