![]() ![]() Ida surpassed that by 47 percent, and 19 years ahead of schedule. In May, the administration released a report that cited projections that every five years from 2040 to 2069 the city could expect a storm that delivers 2.15 inches in an hour. An unprecedented 3.15 inches of rain fell in a single hour Wednesday, overwhelming drainage and sewer systems. The city’s sewers are designed to handle 1.75 inches of rain per hour. Robert Nelson, president of Nelson Management, said the flooding serves as a “stark reminder as to why some of these basement locations should not be legal.” Jay Martin, president of landlord group the Community Housing Improvement Program, said he sees a path to safely legalizing some basement apartments, and believes the city desperately needs more housing, but warned against rushing the process. According to the New York Post, the administration also missed a deadline this spring to change the Uniformed Stormwater Rule to prevent runoff at development sites. The city had already planned to set up a system for alerting basement residents about forecasted “extreme rain events,” but not until 2023. Moreover, the program’s budget was gutted during the pandemic, and plans to apply it citywide have stalled.ĭe Blasio told MSNBC on Friday that he is establishing a task force to set new evacuation rules for basement apartments. At the time, he estimated that such a move would add some 10,000 affordable housing units over the next decade.īut the city is estimated to have more than 100,000 basement apartments. ![]() In February 2020, Mayor Bill de Blasio proposed legalizing basement apartments throughout the city, building on a pilot program launched in East New York. To be a legal residence, basement units must have a minimum ceiling height of 7-and-a-half, in some cases 7, feet, a window in every room and an exit to the outside. Attorney General Letitia James on Friday called on the city to provide emergency housing vouchers to all residents of illegal basement dwellings. The fatalities have raised questions about efforts to legalize such units, with some urging caution and others saying they underscore the need to help people living in them. Within 15 minutes, water had reached the ceiling.Īt least 11 of the city residents killed by Tropical Storm Ida were reportedly in basement apartments at the time, and five of the six where people died had been illegally converted, the Department of Buildings said Friday. ![]() “It was a very lovely, livable apartment.”įortunately, her mother was not there when water broke through the door’s plexiglass window. “We redid the entire basement and accommodated it for her,” Franco said. ![]()
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