Opinion: Following Hurricane Ida, city must push to legalize basement apartments
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By Adrienne Adams
The deadly impact that Hurricane Ida had on New York City was not just a wake-up call on the urgent need for climate action and resiliency infrastructure, but also the importance of legalizing the city’s stock of basement apartments.
The remnants of Ida that struck the northeast last week unleashed record-breaking rainfall that quickly flooded our streets, subways and homes. Eleven of the reported 13 New Yorkers who died as a result of the storm lived in basement apartments, trapped by gushing waters with no way to escape. Their deaths, which took place in largely low-income communities of color in Queens and Brooklyn, shed light on the need to ensure safe living conditions for all New Yorkers, no matter where they call home.
The movement to legalize basement and cellar units, where hundreds of thousands of people likely already live, has been active for the last decade. Led by community organizations like Chhaya Community Development Corporation, Cypress Hills Local Development Corporation, and the Pratt Center for Community Development, the Basement Apartments Safe for Everyone (BASE) Campaign spearheaded the effort to bring a pilot program to Cypress Hills and East New York three years ago.
Although more than 900 homeowners expressed interest in participating in the program, due to funding cuts in the city’s budget, the original pilot was scaled down to just 40 basements. Ultimately, only eight homes have been approved for participation.
The city’s slow-walking of the pilot program, which was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and economic challenges that ensued, is not only concerning, but also untimely. With New York City facing an affordable housing crisis and catastrophic storms becoming a norm due to climate change, the city should take immediate steps to jumpstart the Brooklyn pilot and expand it to other areas where basement apartments are prevalent, including my own district in Queens.
While some have argued in the wake of Hurricane Ida that the city should crack down harshly on illegal basements, I believe we must make them safe and livable for the tens of thousands of residents who already reside in these units. Legalizing basement apartments would not only provide more affordable housing options to renters who are already feeling the squeeze, but would also help homeowners who may need help paying their mortgage or other costs. This will benefit working-class and immigrant families and college students who often start out renting affordable spaces, but strive to eventually own a home of their own in New York City.
Perhaps more importantly, by bringing these basement apartments up to code, we can avoid preventable loss of life during climate emergencies. We cannot accept the status quo, especially as storms that completely inundate our infrastructure and overwhelm our streets become more and more frequent. We must make the right investments now to save lives in the future.
In the short term, the city should fully fund and support the BASE Campaign’s pilot program in Cypress Hills and East New York, and do everything in its power to facilitate an expansion to other districts. In the long term, we should take the lessons learned from the pilots and expand the legalization of basement and cellar units citywide.
While that effort will require coordination and substantial funding, we have already seen and suffered the cost of inaction. To make our city safer, more livable, and better prepared for the effects of climate change, we must advance ongoing efforts to regulate and legalize basement apartments.
Adrienne Adams represents Queens District 28 in the New York City Council.
