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Has Returned to the City's Radar Screen By Dr. Tara Singh |
New York, August 2002: On Tuesday, July 2nd a Queens Task Force on Illegal Conversions met at Borough Hall to discuss the prevalence of complaints on illegal conversions and occupancy. As far as we are aware, no community leader from the Indo-Caribbean community was invited to that meeting.
Ever since ex-Mayor Giuliani began a crackdown on the so-called "illegal basements" in the late 1990s, this subject has always lingered on the periphery of the City's radar. This is a very controversial issue and we strongly believe that at least one Indo-Caribbean representative should have been on the Task Force. After all, we were cited with a disproportionate number of violations, compared with other ethnic groups. Ensuing frustrations also caused many members to leave the City and live elsewhere.
We demonstrated, invited politicians to speak at public rallies, and picketed City Hall, Queens Borough Hall, and the NYC Buildings Department, for their lack of understanding of the basic housing need of our community, as well as, their readiness to issue summons rather than begin a campaign of public education. Violations were slapped on several home owners, whose sins were that they had been providing a critical service to people (who would have otherwise become homeless), which the City has been unable to provide.
Firmer Building Code enforcement is not the answer. It's the City's and State's responsibility to provide affordable housing to New Yorkers. As a measure of its poor commitment to housing, this State ranks 49th in the country for providing new housing units. Even the relatively small number of homes being built are largely for middle and upper income groups. With over 33% of the City's population being foreign-born, it's clear that the City's and State's approach to housing are not linked to immigration needs.
Well, not exactly. Certain designated immigrants are given affordable housing upon arriving in this country. Most immigrants, however, are not given this rare privilege. They, together with their relatives, have to make their own housing arrangements. Above all, the voices that represent them, are still weak.
At the July 2nd Task Force meeting, it was reported that there were 10,143 complaints about illegal conversions in Queens last year, compared with 856 in 1996. Community Board 9 which has a high concentration of Indo-Caribbeans had 1,740 complaints filed, compared with 87 in 1996. A Board member alone filed hundreds of complaints. This leads me to another important matter. We have to seek greater representation in these boards.
The enforcement practices of the Buildings Department lead one to conclude that the Indo-Caribbean community is being targeted for unfair enforcement of the Building Code. Everywhere one travels in the City, illegal apartments exit. We do not support people creating illegal apartments, and the corresponding health and safety hazards. But for most of the time, we have inherited a problem that we never created. When the prior owners had these homes they were called "mother and daughter." They were never regarded as illegal, but a new set of owners emerge on the scene, and the rules of the game change.
The Indo-Caribbean community acted very courageously when the first assault was made by the Buildings Department. It's ironic that the enthusiasm which this Department exuded during the late 1990s crackdown was allowed to overshadow the corruption that prevailed in the Buildings Department. The ex-Mayor's priority was twisted. Rather than finding homes for the thousands of immigrants who arrived in the City, he decided to punish them for finding their own accommodation.
We have argued persistently, that most of our people are not knowledgeable in the City's byzantine Building Code, and that rather than penalizing home owners, the City should create an aggressive education program to sensitize people on what is required under the zoning rules. I am very pleased to learn that Queens Borough President Helen Marshall seems to adopt the right policy: "We need to get the word out as to what is legal and what is illegal, and we need it in other languages." She also declared her intention of setting up workshops on legal conversions.
As part of our effort to better deal with this problem, we met City officials a few months ago at the Mayor's Community Assistance Unit. There we laid out our feelings on the City's enforcement policy on illegal conversion. The two community directors for Queens were sympathetic to our views, and promised to raise our concerns with higher officials. We have not yet had a response.
Some community leaders in their testimony before a City Council Sub-Committee hearing a couple of years ago, recalled the Gestapo-like tactics used by some Building Inspectors to ferret out illegal apartments. We can relate many bizarre stories. But I leave that for another time. In the meantime, we have been reliably informed that the Buildings Department cannot enter your home without being armed with a warrant. The representative must also be accompanied by a police officer.
We should try to get information on the Legal Conversion workshops, and take all appropriate measures to correct defects. But we must caution: "if the City enforces the Building Code selectively within our community, we will have no option but to pressure them to do likewise in other communities."
Some detractors say that the illegal conversion problem is an Indo-Caribbean or an immigrant one. We totally disagree with this. And yes, we too, pay our fair share of taxes, apart from revitalizing several neighborhoods from which the natives have fled. Our research also shows that illegal apartments predominate in the City. We ask the City not to use us as scapegoats. If firm enforcement is needed, then apply it uniformly.