Wednesday, November 14, 2018

Bill would legalize basement units citywide


From PIX11:

City Council Member Brad Lander says he wants to make sure long-time residents like Thorne can stay in the community, while also providing affordable housing. It's why he's proposed a bill to help homeowners bring illegal basement units up to code.

"We just have been playing a sort of don't ask, don't tell game and that's not good for anybody," said Lander.

Under his proposal, homeowners would receive low interest, subsidized, or forgivable loans depending on their income level. That money would be used transform basements into legal apartments with the help of the Department of Buildings.

In exchange, current or future tenants will receive leases with renewal clauses and affordable rent increases.

"If the house is in proper standard with the basement and pass all it's examination it could be done," said Thorne. "If it fails, it should be out."

If the pilot program is approved it will roll out in East New York sometime next year. If it's successful, it will likely roll out to the rest of the city shortly after.

23 comments:

Jimbob, flushing said...

And now my property, water, sewer taxes will go up be cause I'm a legal 2,3 family dwelling. That's the whole idea behind an illegal basement apt, I put the money in my pocket not the city.

Anonymous said...

Under no circumstances should the city reward illegality by PAYing to make them legal. Let the owner pay any and all attendant costs to legalize a basement into living space.

Anonymous said...

The city had better hire more firemen.

Gino said...

water, sewer taxes will go up

Not only that but to get that "nod" and legalization & free stuff you must take in at least one Section 8 case (and you do not get to pick who you get) and your building becomes a sec 8 building forever.
This all gets passed to any next owner (to get slumlords into nice blocks). You also give up a lot of rights must allow the city (your new partner) into your home, any room, any time, for virtually any complaint.
With this crap all it takes is one landlord to bring in a sec 8 family and the whole block is busted. (final plan to "finish off" Ridgewood Glendale & Maspeth I guess)

The city is once again spoon feeding people shit and telling them its a meal.
A Trojan horse to diversify and bring sec 8s into neighborhoods is what it is.

-Gee

Anonymous said...

The idea behind this is to provide the people in LIC an opportunity for housing when they can no longer afford to live above ground with the importation of techie drones from India and China living cheek to jowl in 60 story towers.

Gary W said...

Yay! More opportunities for graft for the DOB!

Amazon Viner said...

The idea behind this is to provide the people in LIC an opportunity for housing when they can no longer afford to live above ground with the importation of techie drones from India and China living cheek to jowl in 60 story towers.

Nailed it. Back when only New Yorkers were living here, the city couldn't wait to penalize homeowners thousands of dollars for having illegal basements. Funny how all of a sudden, the city wants to "help" them.

Anonymous said...

I have a certain personal "law" based on my own observations made over the course of many years. This "law" is, when you have people who themselves cannot afford housing in a certain area, but are living there because they're being subsidized in some way, they degrade the building or the neighborhood. I once had neighbors in an apartment building who were totally obnoxious and obviously had no concept whatsoever about how to live quietly and courteously in a shared environment like an apartment building. The young husband would walk out into the hall having loud conversations on his cell phone, so we all had to hear his business, and had many other discourteous behaviors. This couple could never have afforded this building; the wife's father was paying for it. And now, the Chinese government is funneling money through the Chinese churches to subsidize low class Chinese buying co-ops and houses. They live like they're still in the ghettos they obviously came from, lowering the quality of life for people who themselves are in a higher socioeconomic stratum and were able to purchase their apartment or home themselves.

I can only imagine how this subsidized "legal basement apartment" will allow lower class people to live among people who made it all by themselves, and bring undesirable behaviors to once-nice neighborhoods. I've seen it happen time and time again over the years, as I said.

Anonymous said...

This essentially kills the single family home-- and all that that means-- in Queens. Even if you don't put a basement apartment in your home, others will, and thereby run the neighborhood into the shitter.

Anonymous said...

Even though home prices assume that you will be renting out the basement to afford the mortgage, expect it to go further up

Anonymous said...

It will pass because the city goverment is full of fools. I can't believe anyone would be proud to addmit they were part of city goverment.

Anonymous said...

Voter turnout for the mayoral election last year was low....again. Did everyone show up and vote against de blasshole? If you stayed home or voted for him, this is the outcome. We all saw it coming.

Anonymous said...

This will kill the city. It almost destroyed Richmond hills in the 90’s. It will drive home prices idown as there will be a glut as people leave the city.

Anonymous said...

And where will all these people park? The streets are already becoming overcrowded here. If you only have a 2 car driveway and that owner already owns 2 cars, the "tenant" is left parking on the street. I dont understand foreigners and out of staters that move here. I thought they moved here for the public transportation but then when they realize how bad out public transportation actually is, then they insist on buying cars. Why dont you do research BEFORE you move here? They cry about the transportation and rents but us who have been here for years have been complaining about it for years and have posted about it online since online even became available but yet they still INSIST on moving here.

Anonymous said...

where will all these people park?

Mayor has that covered.
The mayor is going to ban private car ownweship by making the bi-annual registration fees of $4000 on some new class of "city 3 and 5 buro plates"
They have something like that in Amsterdam and Denmark where you need to have a registered "carpool" and make available share use of your automobile.

The problem is both car ownership and drivers licenses are not rights, they are only privileges.

Gino said...

""Even if you don't put a basement apartment in your home""

If you don't you will pay a huge HUGE fee or "wasted space tax" to keep your home private. One reason those census people are banging on doors to know all your household and private business and never give up.

The mayor is following the Scandinavian socialism book play by play, inch by inch to chip away everything.
--I warned of all the above coming down the pipes 2 years ago here people called me crazy QUOTE "naaa never happen"

-Gino

Anonymous said...

>Back when only New Yorkers were living here

When was that? Has there ever been a time where this City wasn't the prime destination of immigration to the US?


@Gino:
>--I warned of all the above coming down the pipes 2 years ago here people called me crazy QUOTE "naaa never happen"

It still hasn't happened, though.

Gino said...

It still hasn't happened, though.
Oh it will. When your a Italian building contractor, plumber, electrician and carefully have to leave some $100 bills around (donations) to make special friends you get a lot of inside information.
In a nutshell deBlasio and the entire city council has private single and two family homeowners on the smash & inviolate list.
Remember, thanks to our young brainwashed the democrats will now control Albany with 2 communists at the helms of both city and state.
Now add the Whitehouse and Senate in 2 years.

Its just a matter of time but I'm sure it will happen. No other way exists to house, feed and medicaid all these bums, refugees and illegals without breaking and crushing homeowners into submission. Its pure communist logic & economics.

The rumble you heard coming down the mountain election time was not: A bird, A plain, or Superman. It was perhaps the final warning. I think we 2 more years as a capitalist country then Oh Finito !!!

I want to move to a warm red state. I'm tired of all this shit and having to pay all these crooks every time I need a permit, good inspection result. The racketeering, rigging & corruption in this city is far worse then people think.

Anonymous said...

So glad i moved out last year. Ya'll are screwed...

Anonymous said...

Koch also looked the other way for illegal basements. But the problem is in the details. Plenty politicians talk in polysyllables to baffle and impress. Who know how to execute the DETAILS? If you leaglize basements, will the safety exits be real? Will the plumbing and parking improvements be REAL? This scam has been going on for a long time. Most houses built after the World Fair were advertised in the NY Times as having a finished basement suitable for a third apartment. But the developers submitted plans to the city with no finished basement. It was right under the city's nose in the papers but they chose to ignore it. Because they figured their contractor friends could then hustle little old ladies by reporting them then showing up instantaneously offering to fix them.

Anonymous said...

Read Sayre & Kaufman, Governing New York. The racketeering in this city has been going on FOREVER.

Anonymous said...

I know a few old people who got heart problems after being harassed by DOB.
They won their cases but the city would not return the fines.

Anonymous said...

Trojan alert !
Taking this deal allows the city to become your partner in all aspects of your home.
Do not sigh your rights over to deBlasio or any communist.
Again, This program is a very dangerous Trojan