Queens Eagle
A group of more than a dozen Arverne by the Sea homeowners are
under investigation for illegally renting out their homes while
collecting approximately $1 million in tax exemptions, the Department of
Investigation said this week.
A Department of Investigation report, issued Feb. 8, includes 11
recommendations to expand city oversight and prevent violations
following the investigation into a 2018 complaint.
The DOI found that there were 15 homeowners in violation of the
primary residence requirement; eight used the properties as rentals or
investment properties — one as a hotel that was registered with the city
to collect occupancy tax — and four who each owned one property and
used them as rentals instead of living there.
There were 11 homeowners with multiple Arverne by the Sea deeds.
According to the DOI, they “were in violation of primary
residence requirements by illegally renting their properties while being
unjustly enriched by tax exemptions meant for owner-occupied homes.”
The apartments were designated in the early 2000’s as an Housing
Preservation and Development Urban Development Action Area Project with a
20-year property tax exemption to homeowners requiring they maintain
the homes as their primary residences.
Impunity City
You wouldn’t think if you looked at them on first impression, but
these beautiful beach front houses are actually government sanctioned
public housing…
These Arverne homes are actually impeccably designed, a bulk of them
even have patios on the top floors which resemble something like
penthouse condos like on Miami and Venice Beaches with gorgeous views
of the Atlantic Ocean and somewhat pleasant views of Jamaica Bay and the
poorer parts of Rockaway Beach, where there at least three public
housing projects in the same neighborhood.
You don’t have to be much of a detective to figure out why these 15
motherfuckers took advantage of a government housing program and made
millions off it while getting tax breaks and write-offs for nearly a
decade. It doesn’t take much sleuthing to figure out why these homes
were easily poached for illegal renting and airbnb lodging and why some
nefarious scumbags would conspire to take advantage of this government
housing program and try to make massive profits from it.All it took was a
casual bike ride around this sunny oasis of pirated housing equity,
it’s gets real plain to see why some nefarious scumbags would try to
take advantage of this government housing program and try to make
massive profits from it. Bookending this HUD financed utopian village
are two massive vacant lots, one of which is still a landfill.
