Confronting Illegal Conversions

Last month, the Department of Investigation (DOI) announced that it had arrested Ivan Betancur on felony charges for bribing a Department of Buildings (DOB) inspector so a property he managed wouldnt receive housing violations.
Betancur managed a two-family home in Elmhurst, which had been illegally converted into a Single Room Occupancy (SRO) with 16 units. He would send the landlord, who lives in Hawaii, $2,000 a month to live there, while keeping the rents he collected from the illegal tenants as profit.
Housing violations for illegal conversions can run into the thousands of dollars, with fines accruing for each day the conversion is not fixed. To circumvent the penalties, Betancur attempted on two occasions to bribe the DOB inspector, both times with $500 boodles. During the second incident, the inspector accepted the money and handed it over to the DOI, which led to the Elmhurst building managers arrest.
Betancurs bribe underscores the length to which people will go to maintain illegal conversions in Queens and the demand for housing in the borough.
According DOB statistics, illegal conversions are by far the most epidemic in Queens. Since the beginning of 2003, DOB received 6,695 illegal conversion complaints with 2,307 violations levied. The next highest borough, Brooklyn, had only a fraction of the complaints 1,687 with 359 issued violations,.
"We have an escalating problem in Queens County," State Senator Frank Padavan told The Queens Courier recently. To emphasize his commitment to addressing illegal conversions, the senator recently sent a letter to Mayor Michael Bloomberg and DOB, questioning whether enough was being done to combat it. In that letter he stated, "It is in my opinion that an aggressive and well coordinated approach to this problem is long overdue."
Padavan was the sponsor of legislation that passed in 1997 that raised the maximum fines that can be applied to violators. It also developed preventive measures, such as mandating that Con Edison obtain a copy of a Certificate of Occupancy before additional meters can be installed in a dwelling. And it provided for a "nail and mail" issuance of violations, which allows DOB to post a fine on the dwelling and also mail it to the landlord, who may live at another location. DOB responded with a letter to Padavan saying progress had been made. It noted that the average number of illegal units per violation has dropped 30% but, the letter also stated, problems persist due to the difficulty in gaining access to private property.
Padavan said that, since many areas are not zoned to handle multiple occupancies, illegal conversions affect a neighborhoods quality of life, including sanitation services and parking. Other politicians agree. Councilman Joe Addabbo said that illegal conversions have a direct effect on the overcrowding in his districts schools and frustrate residents efforts to find a parking spot.
"It puts a strain on all of the city services and schools and people are forced into living closer to each other," said Mary Ann Carey district manager of Community Board 9, which covers Richmond Hill, a densely populated swath of Queens where large amounts of illegal conversions occur. She agrees with the complaints about illegal conversions, but she does not see issuing violations as an adequate solution. She suggests that DOB make homeowners more aware of what can and cannot be done to their homes.
Carey also suggest that zoning parts of Richmond Hill for multiple occupancies should be considered. A member of CB 9 for more than 20 years, the district manager said illegal conversions are nothing new and are not bound to go away anytime soon. Carey said that in the latest census taken in 2000, her district increased by 50,000, but she believes this is an inaccurate number, since it does not account for the tenants in illegal conversions. Allowing for multiple occupancies, she said, would yield a more accurate census, which would in turn would allow for better estimates for the amount of schools needed for the area. It would also mean that homeowners could account for the additional income, which generates more tax revenue for services.
Mike Butler, president of the Richmond Hill East Business Persons and a community leader who, in the past, has tried to get politicians to address illegal conversions, agrees with Carey about DOB providing more information to homeowners. He also believes that those most affected by the violations are not absentee landlords or slumlords trying to cram as many tenants as possible into an occupancy for a profit, but poor homeowners and immigrants trying to defray the cost of a high mortgage or rental.
"You got to educate them," said Butler. "Instead of going forward we go backwards."
Since many of the homeowners in Richmond Hill are Guyanese and Indian immigrants and new to this country, said Butler, they do not understand all the building regulations. He believes that information about illegal occupancies should be distributed when a mortgage is signed. He also believes there should be a six-month period to fix the conversion or get the proper license from DOB. Yet, Butler said, even if a homeowner was allowed to make conversions to a house, many cant afford the cost of getting the proper licenses to do so with DOB.The bottom line, he said, is that there is little affordable housing for immigrants and low-income residents.
"You have to weigh the factors," said Councilman Addabbo, whose district encompasses parts of Richmond Hill and other hot zones like Woodhaven and Ozone Park, discussing the yin and yang of fighting illegal conversions while also ensuring affordable housing for residents.The councilman plans to introduce a proposal in January to increase the number of DOB inspectors to better assist community boards and councilmembers in responding to complaints. He said the increase would be cost neutral, since the violations and revenues would pay for themselves.
At the same time, the councilman agrees that, considering the boroughs expanding population, more affordable housing needs to be developed, to dissuade homeowners from illegally converting to defray the costs, and to help tenants find dwellings where rents are low. He pointed, as a start, to the affordable housing being built on St. Anthonys former property on Woodhaven Boulevard.
DOB agrees there is no simple answer to combatting illegal conversions. DOB spokesperson Illyse Fink said there is a catch 22 involved. Dwellings are being illegally converted but many are done because housing is expensive in Queens. She said if they were to evacuate tenants from illegally converted dwellings, then the issue would become a homeless situation. That is why, she said, when the DOB issues violations, they do not evacuate tenants if there is an adequate egress.
"Clearly there is a need for housing," said Fink. "But,there is no simple answer here."