Speakers on a proposal for new rental housing regulations throughout Riverhead Town were divided during a public hearing Tuesday night.
Several residents and fire safety officials spoke in support of the legislation and the importance of the new regulations in order for town Code Enforcement officials to combat substandard and illegal housing. Many drew on the experiences of themselves and their neighbors, and aired grievances related to rental housing and other activities in their neighborhoods.
Others, including representatives of the New York Civil Liberties Union and other fair housing groups, said that while safety should be a priority, the legislation could adversely impact vulnerable populations. They asked the Town Board to reexamine the code; board members were apathetic.
Riverhead Town has more than 1,900 rental properties, according to Senior Code Enforcement Investigator Richard Downs. The regulations are meant to “curb the proliferation of certain conditions that encompass those rental properties, which may be operating in such a manner to cause over occupancy, blight and substandard parking conditions,” Downs said at the start of the hearing.
The proposed regulations would make it illegal for landlords to rent to people that are not a “family or the functional equivalent thereof,” as well as create requirements for driveways on rental properties.
MORE COVERAGE: Proposed new rules in Riverhead would restrict rentals to a ‘family’ or equivalent, limit commercial vehicles in driveways
Town Board members supported the law throughout the hearing, pushing back on some speakers who they thought were mischaracterizing the proposal. A focus was a requirement that landlords only be able to rent to a “family” or the “functional equivalent” of a family; the current rental code, adopted in 2006, defines a family and criteria for determining whether a group of people is a functional equivalent. Town officials said that criteria is broad and complies with state law and legal requirements.
“Let’s say four young guys — and I can say that because I did this when I was young — we got together [and] we rented a house… We split the rent between the four of us,” Supervisor Tim Hubbard said. “We used the same kitchen. We cooked. We had dinner together. We shared the utility bills and everything else — that would still be allowed under this code,”
“Correct,” Downs said.
“What this does not allow is, let’s take those same four people… and a house is being rented to them, and each one has their own bedroom, which is their own living area, and it’s possibly padlocked on the outside, with a hot plate and a mini-fridge inside, making each bedroom an actual living area of that house. That is when it becomes dangerous,” Hubbard said.
Steve Haber of Baiting Hollow said he supports the legislation. He voiced concerns about his neighborhood — specifically people who live at and visit a certain home where, he said, there are several commercial vehicles parked. One amendment to the code would make it illegal to have more than two commercial vehicles parked in a driveway.
“We have more traffic in there, not just from the people that live there, but from the people who are dropping off and picking up. It’s an everyday type of situation, of construction that’s going on at the house, building materials that’s being delivered, and it’s just getting out of control,” Haber said.
William Sproston of Baiting Hollow said there have been multiple illegal apartments built at properties in his neighborhood. People build without permits, he said, including one who is building what he called a “Taj Mahal” in his backyard. The Town Board needs to give the Code Enforcement Division the resources it needs to enforce the code, he said.
“The town has to have stronger rules and regulations and you have to have teeth — to put bite into it [and] to make these people understand that when they violate the codes and the laws of this town, they have to pay a price,” Sproston said. “And this is what’s not happening; that’s why people get away with it.”
Irma Solis, the Suffolk County director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, raised multiple objections and questions related to the code proposal, including how it might be enforced. She asked the board to reject the legislation.
“These proposed revisions appear pretextual and likely will encourage the Town of Riverhead to engage in impermissible inquiry and make impermissible social judgments based on rental dwelling occupancy, sleeping arrangements, all tied to pernicious definition adopted by Riverhead with respect to what constitute a traditional family or the functional equivalent of a traditional family,” Solis said. “But there is a right of intimate association within the home, and this right cannot be conditioned on any government actor’s subjective opinion about the value, motivation or characteristic of the people who seek to invoke this right.”
“Zoning law can serve its historic function without defining family at all,” she said. “Riverhead can enforce its zoning codes to protect health and safety and wellness and controlled cohabitation based on the health and safety limits of residential structures by uncoupling the definition of family from residential limits.“
Town Board members dismissed Solis and others speakers’ concerns during the hearing; they said that the legislation was for the safety of first responders, like firefighters and police officers, whose duties could be impeded by the conditions of substandard housing.
“So just as much as you want to go and take apart and pick apart this legislation and how it affects — let’s keep it simple,” Council Member Ken Rothwell, a volunteer firefighter, said. “This is about protecting our firefighters, our police officers and all of our residents within this town, and that’s what should be the main focus. That’s the drive of this legislation, because as long as I’m sitting up here, I want to know that I’ve done everything I can to protect every resident and every firefighter and every police officer in this town, and I’ll stand by that legislation.“
Riverhead fire safety leaders voiced their support for the new regulations during the hearing.
“[W]e fully support any type of change that limits the amount of people that can be sleeping, living in a basement with any type of structural changes, or people living in attics,“ Riverhead Fire Commissioner Ed Carey said.
Ryan Walsh, a housing counselor with Housing Help Inc., read a statement from the nonprofit’s executive director, Pilar Moya-Mancera, which said that the regulations could disproportionately harm certain groups that rely on nontraditional housing situations, like immigrants and the elderly.
“I urge the town board to evaluate the unintended repercussions of these laws, which will disproportionately harm our community’s most vulnerable members, such as immigrants, retirees and homeowners suffering from financial hardship,” he said. “Additionally, Housing Help remains dedicated to collaborating with the town to develop a balanced approach that protects both homeowners rights [and] renters safety, while considering the needs of vulnerable community members.”
Others said the town should focus on enforcing the laws it already has on the books, and state building and fire codes, to ensure landlords are in compliance and renters are safe.
“We already have driveway and parking restrictions that have not clearly been enforced. So how does the Town Board see these new limitations having any more teeth?” said Cindy Clifford of Riverhead. “Overcrowded housing is not a new problem. Homelessness is not a new problem. But as much as this particular resolution could potentially lead to people losing a home and joining the ranks of the homeless, it still isn’t going to really accomplish anything for this town, other than to signal that the board recognizes it’s a problem, which we all appreciate.”
“Instead of voting to approve what could be regarded as a show that you’re trying to do something or something worse, what if you instead vote this down and turn to your community for creative and substantive steps for solutions that could work for everyone?” Clifford said. “It’s just an idea.”
Written comment on the legislation will be accepted at the town clerk’s office until Sept. 27 at 4:30 p.m..
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