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Q&A
Council Member Riley questions DCP on flood risks and basement apartments
0:57:21
ยท
3 min
Council Member Kevin Riley inquires about DCP's building elevation dataset, its implications for flood risk assessment, and the city's plans for making basement apartments safe during extreme weather events. Commissioner Dan Garodnick responds by discussing the challenges of unsafe living conditions, efforts to legalize safe basement apartments, and the importance of increasing housing supply to prevent New Yorkers from living in dangerous situations.
- The discussion highlights the connection between inadequate housing supply and unsafe living conditions in basement apartments.
- Commissioner Garodnick emphasizes the importance of the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity initiative in addressing these issues.
- The conversation touches on the city's pilot program to legalize certain basement apartments and limitations placed on accessory dwelling units in flood-prone areas.
Kevin Riley
0:57:21
I have one more question, commissioner.
0:57:24
In 02/2023 in September, DCP released the building evaluation and subgrade dataset, the most comprehension data yet available on the elevation of New York City buildings.
0:57:35
The data should help the city assess flood risk, improve our emergency management, and direct funding for local climate resilience effort.
0:57:42
What do flood risk mean for available affordable housing that exists, for example, in basements?
0:57:49
Does the city have a plan to make basement apartments safe during extreme, but increasingly regular weather events?
0:57:54
And the only reason I asked this, last week I did a tour in my district in the corridor by Gun Hill Road that's close by the five train.
0:58:04
And the train being that they, I guess, renovated it a few years ago, four or five years ago, elevated it, which is causing a lot of flooding into the basement apartments for some residents in my district.
0:58:16
So just wanted to learn a little bit more about this plan that was set by DCB.
Dan Garodnick
0:58:21
Yeah.
0:58:21
So first of all, I think it's really important for us to note that there are too many New Yorkers who live in unsafe conditions and are not recognized as legal dwelling units under city or state law.
0:58:35
There are processes underway to find pathways to legalize safe basement apartments.
0:58:43
But most importantly, and I think this goes to the core of why the action that you all took in City Of The Ash for Housing opportunity was so important, was that without adequate housing supply in New York City, what you get is New Yorkers living in death traps.
0:58:58
And that is not something that we should accept as a city.
0:59:01
That is something that we should be taking all necessary steps to avoid.
0:59:05
And so whether it's somebody who can't find affordable housing that is not prone to regular flooding and they live in a basement that is not recognized by the city, or if it is somebody who just wants more flexibility in negotiating their lease renewal with their landlord or if it's somebody who wants to get basic repairs to their apartment.
0:59:28
If you have no options and if you have no leverage, you are out of luck as a New Yorker.
0:59:34
So we think those are directly related.
0:59:37
The city is now working on the pilot program to find a way to legalize the basement apartments that can be legalized.
0:59:45
I will also note that we did create some limitations in the accessory dwelling unit program for City of Yes to areas where we did not think that basement units were appropriate in flood prone areas.
0:59:57
That was an important part of, you know, of the ways that we were trying to keep New Yorkers from gravitating to unsafe basement apartments.
1:00:06
But most importantly, this initiative to add more housing is the way to get more affordable units and to do them in safe conditions and to not put New Yorkers in in dangerous spots.
Kevin Riley
1:00:20
Thank you, commissioner.
1:00:21
Thank you.