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City’s taking action to fix these 18 Queens buildings with severe code & safety violations

This apartment building on 46th Street in Woodside is among 18 Queens buildings to be renovated in the Alternative Enforcement Program.
Photo via Google Maps

BY WILLIAM HARRIS

After finding numerous housing code violations, the city is taking action against landlords of 18 Queens buildings and 370 units that present dangerous living conditions for their tenants.

Health and safety code violations have forced the Department of Housing Preservation (HPD) and the city’s Alternative Enforcement Program (AEP) to take action in six different Queens neighborhoods, including Corona, Far Rockaway, Flushing, Jamaica, Long Island City and Ridgewood.

As a result, the violations will enable the HPD to do roof inspections, implement fees and conduct an AEP Order to Correct conditions to get the individual buildings up to code.

The Locations in the AEP Program include the following:

  • 102-01 39th Ave., Corona – 13 units
  • 180 Beach 27th St., Far Rockaway – 3 units
  • 455 Beach 36th St., Far Rockaway – 4 units
  • 29-32 Beach Channel Dr., Far Rockaway – 107 units
  • 18-06 Gateway Blvd., Far Rockaway – 27 units
  • 40-15 102nd St., Corona – 6 units
  • 32-17 104th St., Corona – 6 units
  • 47-47 46th St., Woodside – 6 units
  • 41-18 Hampton St., Elmhurst – 16 units  
  • 1634 Madison St., Ridgewood – 6 units  
  • 111-31 135th St., South Ozone Park – 4 units
  • 87-75 148th St., Jamaica – 6 units
  • 87-40 165th St., Jamaica – 119 units
  • 113-15 Atlantic Ave., Richmond Hill – 8 units
  • 147-01 Hillside Ave., Jamaica – 24 units
  • 108-26 Liverpool St., Jamaica – 3 units
  • 34-25 9th St., Long Island City – 6 units
  • 1720 Harman St., Ridgewood – 6 units    

“HPD is working on all fronts to make sure that landlords live up to their obligations to provide tenants with the safe, quality housing that they rightfully deserve. The Alternative Enforcement Program is a powerful tool to take negligent owners to task and address systemic conditions in buildings,” said Housing Preservation and Development Commissioner Maria Torres-Springer.

This is the 11th year of the AEP Program, who have held landlords responsible for housing conditions in New York City. The 18 buildings in Queens are among 250 apartment buildings across the city that Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Feb. 12 would be renovated under the initiative. These 250 buildings are home to 3,970 families and have combined to a total of 27,301 housing code violations.

“This kind of willful negligence puts tenants in danger. It is immoral and illegal and we will use every tool we have to go after property owners and make these buildings safe for New York families,” said Mayor de Blasio.

In the first 10 years of the AEP, 1,647 buildings with 22,033 apartments have been repaired in New York City. 72 buildings and 536 units of those are from neighborhoods in Queens. Repair costs recovered by HPD are at more than $74 million.

All 250 buildings this year have a total of 4,859 immediately hazardous (C-class) violations, 21,442 hazardous (B-class) and 7,602 non-hazardous (A-class). In addition, New York City buildings already owe more than $1.5 million due to HPD Emergency Repair Program charges.