Navigating NYC’s Housing Crisis Through Basement Living

For multiple low-income and immigrant New Yorkers an unregulated basement or cellar unit is all they can afford While the city has made efforts to legalize underground apartments like a pilot project in and another one upcoming certain basement tenants and homeowners still feel left behind -year-old Miranda s a pseudonym bedroom inside the basement apartment where she lives her mother and sister Photo by Connor Patton This story was produced as part of a capstone reporting project at NYU s Arthur L Carter Journalism Institute with editing by Professor Donna Borak Editor s note City Limits is using pseudonyms for the renters and homeowners in this story who did not want to be identified by their real names for fear of jeopardizing their housing Names that are pseudonyms are identified by an asterisk Thirty-five years ago Sherri Singh arrived in Queens from Trinidad with her mother and brother and settled in a basement apartment a limited blocks from her current residence in South Ozone Park paying only a month for the space This day she is the landlord to a single mother Hannah who lives in the basement of Singh s own duplex with her two daughters and pays a month for two bedrooms The pristine white walls and almost full modern kitchen make the place look like a luxury apartment for a family tight on cash if one doesn t notice the two egress windows only wide enough to fit a sitting Squishmallow plushie For renters like Hannah a cramped basement is the only affordable option Legal two-bedroom apartments in Queens average at least but countless surpass a month For the rent price of an upstairs apartment we could perhaps just afford a one bedroom but with two kids we couldn t have a one bedroom Hannah explained But with this space we made it a home her -year-old daughter Miranda added Basement apartments aren t unique to the house Singh built with her husband more than a decade ago She is confident almost everyone on her street rents their basements like she does after years of watching a stream of new faces park walk down side doors at neighboring houses I could rent my apartments for a lot of money because they re nice Singh noted But I believe a family willing to work and help out should pay less just like I got helped out when I came here There are estimated to be more than basements and cellars beneath residential buildings in South Ozone Park and South Jamaica neighborhoods that have specific of the highest concentrations of below-ground dwellings in the city according to an analysis by Pratt Center for Region Enhancement As the cost of living in New York City continues to rise several homeowners in low-density neighborhoods in the outer boroughs rent their lower floors to New Yorkers looking for affordable options However these spaces are largely illegal to rent due to safety codes requirements And in contemporary years increased flooding fueled by surroundings change including s Hurricane Ida which killed several people residing in converted underground units highlight the risks of such homes Still New York s acute affordability predicament has pushed a large number of low-income and immigrant New Yorkers to the brink choosing to save money on rent despite the risks that come with unregulated units And while the city has made efforts to legalize underground apartments like a pilot scheme in and another one upcoming basement tenants and homeowners still feel left behind Eye-catching headlines about city inspectors busting basements with more than people living inside have created fear that they ll be evicted next We are both in the business of making sure that buildings are safe and that is critically essential and wanting tenants who are living in illegal basements not necessarily to be at once removed announced Deputy Commissioner of Plan at the Department of Housing Preservation and Advancement HPD Lucy Joffe during a conversation with scholar reporters last fall We need a pathway to basement legalization so we truly can get in there and have something that we can offer people that doesn t just destroy a bunch of lives Joffe stated Homes in the Cypress Hills neighborhood of Brooklyn where the city ran a basement legalization pilot in Photo by Adi Talwar Past basement legalization efforts To bring basement renters out of the shadows the de Blasio administration partnered with the neighborhood organization Cypress Hills LDC and launched a basement apartment pilot plan in that would have legalized qualifying spaces in East New York and Cypress Hills The pilot temporarily lifted code restrictions that hampered basement apartment construction like allowing cellar apartments and removing window dimension and ceiling height requirements However zoning code rules and high construction costs still greatly limited the reach of the initiative The average cost to upgrade a basement apartment through the East New York Pilot Effort loomed around an expensive venture for homeowners in a neighborhood where the median household income in was It has been frankly a nightmare Vicki Been former HPD commissioner and faculty director at the NYU Furman Center disclosed regarding the basement pilot It was unbelievably expensive because majority of the time you really had to excavate under the basement and make it bigger and waterproof it On top of the heavy price tag more than a third of homeowners with basement apartments interested in applying were automatically disqualified from the activity due to a zoning law that required a set number of parking spaces per unit The parking requirement increased when legal basement apartments additions are turned a two-family home into a multi-family home Those rules have changed chosen in the years since When the City Council adopted a modified version of the City of Yes plan in December parking mandates were removed or reduced in certain neighborhoods including selected areas in the basement pilot But if the owners of two-family homes passed initial approval they then faced another regulatory hurdle a state-level Multiple Dwelling Law This would force the now multi-family homes to add sprinkler systems railings and access to roofs adding an additional to to the conversion costs according to a record by the Citizens Housing Planning Council One property might have three different straitjackets around it one representing a set of regulations explained Ryan Chavez the director of the basement pilot activity Jessica Katz the city s former chief housing officer speaking at a rally in Jackson Heights in calling on the state to legalize basement and cellar units Photo by Adi Talwar Keeping quiet After the pilot exposed the challenges to conversion a coalition of tenant associations and city planners organized to demand legalization through the Basement Apartments Safe for Everyone BASE campaign Leading participants include Cypress Hills LDC which spearheaded the pilot scheme and Chhaya CDC a non-profit that educates and organizes South Asian tenants and homeowners in Queens Sadia Rahman is the deputy director of plan at Chhaya CDC and has been working with basement tenants for over a decade While the non-profit supports immigrant families purchasing their first homes and tenants whose landlords refuse to make repairs basement tenants facing eviction or unsafe living conditions have fewer available options Usually the homeowner got fined and they don t want the menace any more of getting fined and so they evict the tenant Rahman announced But since these lease agreements aren t legal and loosely written we can only coach a tenant through how to buy time to find a new apartment in an eviction incident If tenants come to Rahman advocating for building repairs like leaky faucets or mold growing around their shower she d usually educate them on how to file a overview against their landlord However for basement dwellers a call to may lead to a Department of Buildings DOB or HPD inspector discovering their illegal living space risking eviction As a effect countless opt to keep quiet for fear of outing themselves If caught homeowners can face fines of per day until the violation is resolved fees that can amass up to Rahman says the bulk basement homeowners she s encountered are in just as tough financial situations as their tenants So when faced with a promising fine or evicting someone paying less than a month in rent it makes sense for homeowners to kick their tenants to the curb if caught Still countless basement violations go unenforced HPD had yet to follow up with percent of the more than vacate orders the agency issued to basement homeowners from to the end of and only percent of those cases were closed during that time according to an analysis of city statistics Graph by Connor Patton based on violations evidence from to the end of In the same period DOB received more than complaints for illegal occupancy which includes attics garages basements and other illegal dwelling spaces When inspectors went to investigate these declares homeowners refused to answer the door percent of the time the facts shows If an inspector is unable to gain access after their second inspection attempt DOB can close the incident Only percent of all complaints resulted in a violation being served against the homeowner the material shows Graph by Connor Patton based on complaints records from to the end of During a City Council hearing last fall DOB First Deputy Commissioner Constadino Sirakis mentioned the agency largely bases its underground enforcement on complaints from the citizens and the FDNY Not necessarily every scenario involves a vacate order A violation could be issued but a vacate may not necessarily be in order for instance if egress is in order Sirakis communicated lawmakers at the time Other scenarios though would trigger maybe an automatic vacate for things such as illegal gas work that might be in connection with the additional dwelling unit Skirting Inspections Signh knows the art of avoiding the DOB She is among those percent of homeowners who faced an illegal occupancy violation and never answered the door to an inspector More than a decade ago Singh returned home from work to find a DOB inspection notice on her door Someone disclosed her for having two illegal apartments in the cellar Since the notice was for Singh s side of her duplex and not the separate part she rented out she obliged the inspectors who later knocked on her door thinking she could out-maneuver them by only having to show half her property I demonstrated him the whole place Singh commented On her side of the duplex she had two bedrooms in the basement for family or visitors but never rented them out When they came and saw the two bedrooms they announced Oh you re not supposed to have this the walls in between ' Singh stated DOB imposed a violation and ordered her to remove the wall And while Singh says the agency never followed up she eventually tore down the wall anyway to add more storage space When she was faced with another DOB inspection a scarce years later this time on the side of the duplex she had been renting out Singh never answered the door DOB inspectors knocked on two occasions records show and following the department s guidelines they closed the circumstance not long after In the roughly years Singh has been renting out her basement she s had to keep up appearances to her neighbors Leading up to her first DOB inspection Singh had been renting her basement to an elderly couple for a month All was well until the couple moved in their son then their daughter-in-law and eventually their soon-to-be grandchild Singh didn t want to raise alarm bells with her neighbors who would have to compete for parking spots with her growing household And fitting five people in a two-bedroom basement was too nerve-racking We didn t want to overcrowd it Singh explained I didn t want to liability things happening She questioned the family to leave and says one of them sought retribution by reporting her to the city She says maintaining a cordial relationship between neighbors and tenants is paramount to avoiding violations And her current tenants announced they are confident in their living situation We have a good relationship with Sherri explained Hannah her basement tenant So vacate orders and evictions are not something I m worried about The only window in Jane Smith s a pseudonym basement located across from the room she rents to a tenant Photo by Connor Patton Tales from a cramped apartment In neighboring Woodhaven -year-old Jane Smith s face turned pale as she walked to work beneath the J Z subway tracks running along Jamaica Avenue one day last fall In stunned silence Smith stared at a black DOB inspection car stopped at a red light waiting to turn down a side street with no space to park Whose life are they f ing up this day Smith requested herself relieved to see the car pass her street After her son moved out about a decade ago Smith converted part of the first floor of her Victorian home into a one-bedroom apartment and the third floor into a two-bedroom apartment In the basement beneath creaky wooden floorboards and tucked up against the home s boiler lives Mary a -year-old cook Mary s basement apartment is approximately -by- feet and barely holds enough space for a full-sized bed and kitchenette with an electric stove mini-fridge sink and counter There s little room to walk around The living space makes up only a fraction of the basement which holds Mary s only personal belongings piles of clothes strewn around a mostly empty dresser along with Smith s cleaning supplies and the aftermath of the grey house cat s mouse-hunting escapades A side door up five moves and an egress window held open by an Amazon package just wide enough to fit her dogs are the only means of escape in affair of an emergency In a neighborhood where the average rent for a one-bedroom apartment is more than a month Smith charges Mary Mary s rarely home since she commutes nearly two hours by bus across the borough to her eight-hour cooking shifts but she s still like family according to Smith Smith says she s also built trust with her neighbors by giving them advice for challenging building violations like the one she says was mistakenly imposed on her roughly years ago for a supposedly improper plumbing set-up While she has no worries about neighbors reporting her Smith explained City Limits last fall that contractors who d in the past few days installed solar panels on her roof reported her she d have to let DOB inside to inspect the electrical panel beside Mary s door When the inspectors arrived months later Smith temporarily removed the stove from Mary s room out of caution The inspectors didn t ask any questions and finished their work on Smith s electrical changes but the visit still made her nervous I ve lost chosen sleep over that Smith revealed According to Rahman from Chhaya CDC the bulk basement tenants find their spaces through friends and family which is true for both Singh and Smith Hannah was a friend of Singh s daughter and Smith discovered Mary through a realtor friend named John Murphy Dealing with basement apartments is illegal and majority realtors don t touch them for fear of getting caught Murphy explained But he feels an obligation to help low-income tenants when selling a home on behalf of their landlord When you sell a house percent of the time people want that house swept and empty they don t want to inherit any tenants announced Murphy Sometimes all those tenants can afford is basements That s how Mary ascertained Smith While selling the home where Mary had been living on the first floor Murphy felt called to find the shy tenant a new home since she had little money and connections While a great number of find their basement abodes through friends and relatives others urgently seeking apartments to rent turn to Craigslist or Facebook Scouring neighborhood-specific and apartments for rent Facebook Groups can land eager New Yorkers a basement apartment ready to rent in just a sparse days for prices as low as a contemporary review of listings show What s next As New Yorkers keep moving into underground apartments for the cheapest rents Rahman and her BASE campaign spent more than three years lobbying the New York State Legislature to pass a bill legalizing such units across the city After conversations and negotiations with lawmakers the State Legislature approved funding for a pilot initiative last year which will lift particular zoning and code restrictions like the Multiple Dwelling Law for basement apartment owners interested in legalizing their units The pilot will launch in area districts across the city but housing advocates like Rahman had hoped for an initiative accessible to every New Yorker and claim the downsized pilot prioritizes more affluent neighborhoods with scant basement apartments Queens Society District which covers Long Island City is the only district in Queens included even though the borough overall is home to an estimated percent of New York s total basement apartments according to THE CITY It s unclear how the districts were selected Rahman announced Other BASE campaign affiliates like Chavez from the Basement Apartment Pilot Operation claim that particular state executives removed neighborhoods from the pilot because of their personal opposition to the initiative City Limits reached out to a number of state reps in Eastern Queens though none responded to requests for comment It came down to back-door negotiations where certain lawmakers didn t want this in their neighborhood Chavez declared We need to take this up again in Albany and make sure that the neighborhoods and communities that are covered by this state transformation include those that have the the bulk basement apartments While the BASE campaign continues pressing for a more inclusive venture the City Council approved a bill in November outlining the eligibility and code changes for the upcoming pilot This comes as the Council also approved Mayor Eric Adams City of Yes housing plan which promises to construct new homes over the next years Landlords renting their basements since April will be to apply with the city to convert them into legal units The basements must not pose an imminent threat to the tenant s safety or life have at least one smoke and carbon monoxide detector and contain at least one means of escape outdoors preferably a door leading directly outside Mayor Adams signed the bill into law in December and eligible homeowners have until to apply according to the text of the regulation HPD did not this instant respond to a query seeking an update on the activity Wednesday While Singh and Smith are eager to make their basement apartments legal for now that s not an option since their homes are outside the pilot s boundaries Besides the effort s limited geographic boundaries questions over funding and the city s commitment to implementing the initiative linger It is critical to accompany these legislative changes with a robust general loan and grant initiative which should be paired with rental affordability requirements Chavez informed the City Council during a meeting last fall Without financial endorsement homeowners of modest means just will not be able to afford the upgrades necessary to bring them into compliance he added To reach the editor contact Jeanmarie citylimits org Want to republish this story Find City Limits reprint framework here The post Navigating NYC s Housing Emergency Through Basement Living appeared first on City Limits