Two state lawmakers say they’re introducing a bill to expand a just-approved basement legalization plan after their colleagues carved dozens of districts out of a measure to ease the safe, lawful conversions of underground apartments.
The plan enacted as part of last month’s state budget gives New York City the power to change restrictions that currently prevent property owners from renovating and legally renting out basement units in just 15 of the city’s 59 community districts. The arrangement, billed as a pilot program, could set up a system where some basement apartments are allowed, while others a block away are not.
State Sen. Julia Salazar of Brooklyn and Assemblymember Jessica González-Rojas of Queens say the basement apartment pilot program “inexplicably” excluded parts of the city with the most basement apartments — including Queens districts where flooding killed residents inside their homes during Hurricane Ida in 2021, and a district covering Brooklyn’s East New York and Cypress Hills neighborhoods, where the city pursued its own program to test the efficacy of basement legalization five years ago.
Salazar, who represents Cypress Hills, called the carve-outs a “big disappointment” affecting owners and tenants in thousands of basement apartments. She and other supporters of basement legalization say keeping those units in the shadows without safety regulations puts renters at risk and exposes owners to hefty fines.
“It’s a matter of safety for a lot of residents in our communities and it really is urgent,” Salazar said.
The city’s own program in Cypress Hills and East New York revealed that bringing basement units up to code under current rules governed by the state is often impossible due to legal and financial constraints. Just two of a potential 102 participants in the program are moving forward with conversion after average costs reached $250,000 per home, according to a 2023 analysis.
González-Rojas said leaving out sections of Queens, like Elmhurst, where residents were killed during Hurricane Ida, would block potential pathways for owners to make their basements safe — including the addition of multiple exits, windows and waterproof walls — and subject to city oversight and inspection.
“The final plan didn’t include the majority of the neighborhoods that could really benefit from this pilot program,” she said.
The 15 districts included in the new state program account for just a fraction of New York City’s basement apartments. Six are located in Manhattan, where basement units are rare, and just one is located in Queens.
The Pratt Center for Community Development and the nonprofit organization Chhaya Community Development Corporation identified more than 376,000 small properties with basements and cellars across the city. The two groups estimate that about 500,000 New Yorkers may be living in them. About 40% of the units are located in Queens, according to their analysis.
“The geographic limitations were not based on sound planning principles,” Pratt Center Program Manager for Policy Sylvia Morse said of the budget plan. “But this is definitely progress. This will allow basement and cellar conversions in many parts of the city where they’re not allowed.”
The law passed by state lawmakers doesn’t automatically legalize basement apartments in the 15 community districts. Instead, it allows the city to create its own rules around safety, occupancy and enforcement.
The next step is for the City Council and Mayor Eric Adams’ administration to come up with local legislation setting safety standards and providing grants to homeowners to make the necessary changes.
So far, no councilmembers have introduced measures to change the various rules restricting basement apartments.
“Converting and legalizing basement apartments is a necessary and costly endeavor,” but the council is still working out how to proceed, said Rendy Desamours, a spokesperson for Council Speaker Adrienne Adams.
Current rules prevent owners of most two-family homes in New York City from converting their basements into legal apartments because adding a third unit often forces them to comply with extensive state requirements. Many of those rules, like putting a guardrail around the roof or adding a skylight in the stairwell, have nothing to do with the actual safety of the basement.
The mayor proposed sweeping changes to zoning restrictions that could pave the way for more legal basement apartments in single-family homes. The City Council will vote on those measures later this year.
WIlliam Fowler, a spokesperson for the mayor, said representatives from various city agencies have been working out what the pilot program for basement legalization might look like over the past year. He said they were eager to work with councilmembers to draft legislation.
“Quite simply, our city needs more housing,” Fowler said. “This legislation is a victory for New Yorkers.”
Before then, each of the eligible community boards — only the ones named in the state law — will have a chance to weigh in and pass a resolution signaling whether or not they wish to participate, though that resolution won’t be binding.
Meanwhile, many state lawmakers will likely be averse to expanding the program they just approved in the new budget.
The patchwork of community districts came after some lawmakers expressed concern about legalization’s merits.
“They went to the assemblymembers and I haven’t heard the assemblymembers say, ‘We really wanted that in there,’” said state Sen. Roxanne Persaud, whose Senate district overlaps with a swath of Brooklyn Community District 5, which includes the city’s basement pilot effort but was excluded from the state plan.
Assemblymember Martiza Davila, who represents a neighboring district in Bushwick, said she specifically requested to include Brooklyn’s Community District 4 in the state program.
“I think it would be extremely helpful for my small landlords to legalize basements and try to get a grant because things are getting very expensive,” she said. “This is something that can potentially save lives and I’m not going to say no to that.”
But state Sen. Leroy Comrie of Queens, an outspoken critic of basement legalization, said he and a few colleagues tried to rally others to kill the program. He said he wants every illegal basement apartment emptied.
“Anything that’s unsafe needs to be cleared,” Comrie said. “They’re illegal. They’re unsafe and if there’s a flood or a fire, those people are in trouble.”
Comrie said he didn’t think changing state laws would allow owners to safely renovate their basements at an affordable price.
“You can come up with an idea to save the world, but if it’s not practical, there’s no ability to do it,” Comrie said.
Sen. Brian Kavanagh, a Manhattan Democrat who chairs the state Senate’s housing committee, sponsored a citywide basement legalization bill and acknowledged the patchwork of community districts came as a result of “some sensitivities in some parts of the city about doing this.”
Kavanagh said he heard safety concerns like Comrie’s.
“The city’s program is going to have to address that … by specifying what conditions need to be achieved to make the apartment safe,” Kavanagh said.
He said lawmakers also complained that legalization would let bad landlords off the hook after they rent out illegal and unsafe basement units that potentially put tenants at risk.
Kavanagh said the compromise program exists in a practical reality, but could get “complicated” for city officials. Still, he said he’s optimistic.
“I think it’ll be a negotiation, but I expect that the City Council will come to a consensus and do this,” he said.