NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — Mayor Bill de Blasio on Tuesday said New York City still does not have a plan in place to fix the issue of illegal basement apartments.
The remnants of Hurricane Ida brought extreme flooding to some parts of New York City, causing hundreds of basement apartments to fill up rapidly, trapping some residents inside.
At least 13 people in the city died in those flooded apartments and at least 10 of those deaths were in illegal dwellings.
Now, there are calls for the city to crack down on illegal basement apartments to better protect those living in them.
However, a week after the storm, New York City has yet to propose a plan to deal with the issue.
“I could tell you that we've got some miraculous plan to solve the illegal basement problem overnight – we don't. I wanna be blunt about that,” the mayor told reporters.
It’s estimated that there are around 50,000 illegal basement apartments in the five boroughs which house roughly 100,000 people.
“It is a massive structural problem in the city, it has been for decades,” said de Blasio.
He added that a new warning system, evacuation plans and travel bans are the best ways to protect lives – which he said is the priority.
Still, those steps do not offer the long-term solution that the city needs.
“We could attempt to convert as many of them to legal but, that's going to take a huge amount of work,” de Blasio said. “For a lot of homeowners, it's the only way they can stay in their home – to rent those out.
And a lot of people need the housing. So, we're in a catch 22, there's no question about it.”
New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams has already called for federal funds to help address basement apartments after meeting with flood victims.
“So much of the loss our city saw last week, losses that many New Yorkers will feel for months and years to come, was suffered in basement apartments. Basement units are a critical component of meeting the need for housing stock in our city, but it is just as critical that government acts quickly to legalize, regulate, and protect these units and the countless tenants who call them home - including with proper warnings in times of crisis,” Williams said in a statement.
The city said it will not penalize homeowners and their basement tenants with fines at this time. Williams is calling for federal funds to go to legalizing basement apartments across the city.
“Right now, the focus is rightly on recovery - but in the immediate future, we need to direct attention and resources toward prevention, toward upgrading our infrastructure and protecting our neighbors and our homes,” Williams said. “With the federal government allocating additional resources to our city and state in disaster response, it is crucial that funds be distributed to homeowners in order to legalize their basement units while maintaining lower rents for tenants who have already lost so much.”
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