Date=10.28.03

Type= English Feature

Title=Boarder Wars: Cracking Down on Illegal Tenants

Number=7-37988

Byline= Maura Farrelly

Dateline= New York

Editor= Rob Sivak

Phone= 619-2023

Intro: It's the American dream… owning your own home. But for an increasing number of Americans, achieving that dream involves living with people who aren't a part of the family. Sometimes those outsiders live in a garage or basement that's been remodeled into a separate apartment. Other times, they're living in rooms in the same house. VOA's Maura Farrelly takes a look at this trend… what's fueling it, and why it's stirring controversy.

TEXT: The practice of taking in boarders isn't exactly new to the United States… it's just been a while since many people did it. In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, boarding houses were quite common. But then came the prosperity that followed World War Two. The move away from boarding houses… and toward single-family homes… was seen as a sign of progress. So then what does it mean that Americans are, once again, renting out parts of their homes? Well, for Lisa Epstein, the push to rent out space in her house came after she and her husband divorced… and she found herself short of not only a man, but also sufficient cash to keep her life on track.

TAPE: Cut One: Epstein

I'm a single parent, and sending my children to private parochial schools, to Jewish day schools. Life in general in New York City is very expensive, but with those added expenses, it's always a struggle to make ends meet. (0:17)

TEXT: That's why Lisa Epstein is thinking about renting out the top floor of her house...maybe to a student at a nearby college. A study commissioned by the American Association of Retired Persons reveals that anywhere from sixty-five thousand to three hundred thousand American families have been converting parts of their homes into apartments each year. Some of these apartments are intended for elderly parents, but most are rented out to strangers. Divorce is one life-changing circumstance fueling the trend. Unemployment is another. But according to Frank Braconi, executive director of the Citizens Housing and Planning Council in New York, those reasons alone can't explain the trend.

TAPE: Cut Two: Braconi

I think what's fueling it is what's fueling all kinds of enterprise. People want money. And in a housing market that's very tight, where basement apartments can generate anywhere from six hundred to a thousand dollars a month in extra income, it's very tempting for people to rent them. (0:19)

TEXT: Mr. Braconi says twenty years ago, when urban housing wasn't in such high demand, most families weren't willing to sacrifice their privacy to take in boarders. But now, the going rate for an apartment in most American cities is so high, people are willing to do it, even if they don't actually need the money. Most private rentals are illegal… meaning homeowners haven't gotten permission from local officials to do it. That means they aren't paying income tax on the money they receive from their boarders… and, according to Frank Braconi, it also means the apartments homeowners have created in their basements, attics, and garages often aren't up to safety codes.

TAPE: Cut three: Braconi

Among the kinds of things that apartments run into in New York City, you know, in terms of being legalizable, is fire access. In fact, there was a case where two children died in Brooklyn just a few weeks ago in exactly such a unit, where the one exit was blocked. And also, access to light and air is another big issue. Most basement apartments, which is where most of the conversions are occurring now, they don't meet the codes that we have had in this city for over a century. (0:29)

TEXT: When even just a handful of homeowners decide to start renting out parts their houses, it has an impact on the entire neighborhood. Traffic congestion and limited parking are two of the more immediate changes. But there can also be demographic changes… and complaints about that sometimes have ugly class and racial connotations. Kennedy McDonald is a homeowner in a New York City neighborhood that until recently was predominantly Jewish and Irish-American. Speaking in somewhat guarded terms, Mr. McDonald notes that today, the neighborhood is home to many Hispanics, African-Americans, and Russian immigrants.

TAPE: Cut Four: McDonald

Now you see that people in the neighborhood here, they buy these two-family homes, these brick ones, and they turn around, and they have two different apartments in the basement, and you get different elements coming in, and people that really can't afford the area otherwise are living in these basements and stuff like this, and it detracts from the neighborhood. (0:16)

TEXT: In many communities, neighbors have become extremely… sometimes even obsessively… vigilant about reporting illegal apartments. But Kennedy McDonald says city inspectors don't act on these reports. Frank Braconi of the Citizens Housing and Planning Council also says officials haven't cracked down on the estimated one hundred thousand illegal apartments throughout the city. Mr. Braconi says he believes political leaders in New York… and in most densely populated cities… ignore the illegal apartments, so they won't have to shell out the money to build low-income housing.

TAPE: Cut Five: Braconi

This is basically a way for government to bridge that housing gap on the cheap. The problem is, you know, there's no free lunch, and that you're creating problems that may be of a longer-term nature, or a more hidden nature, while you're saving those budget subsidies that government doesn't want to pay. (0:20).

TEXT: For their part, officials with New York City's Department of Buildings say they do fine homeowners with illegal apartments, whenever those apartments are discovered. But they also say they simply don't have the staff to search for illegal apartments in private homes.

I'm Maura Farrelly.