Home Sweet Home...

Meede – who asked not to be identified by his last name - lives in an illegally converted house in Jackson Heights. It’s been his home for close to a decade. It is the same home where his children grew up. The same home where his son and daughter-in-law died in a fire seven years ago. "I am frightened to speak to you. I do not want to get the rest in trouble," said the dark, thin-framed man, who worked as a chef at a popular South Asian restaurant in Jackson Heights. "I still live in an illegally converted house."

Illegally converted homes are virtual firetraps, said John Kiernan, a firefighter from Jackson Heights. Most units have one exit and no sprinklers. Usually a tangled maze of wires riddles the corridors within. An electrical short or a careless smoker could turn the building into a blazing inferno - the kind that Meede’s loved ones died in.

John Kiernan, fireman, Firehouse 307/Ladder 154, Jackson Heights
PHOTO: Roshni Abayasekara

Kiernan worked for the fire department for more than 20 years. "Fires have broken out and people are locked in their homes," said Kiernan. "Basically in order to secure themselves in these illegal occupancies they put in additional locks, not only to protect themselves from the people outside but to protect themselves from the people inside, too. These people are prisoners of their own homes. They are forced by economics to provide rent for these cheap rooms. It's sort of a Catch-22 situation. If they find a way of clapping down on illegal conversion then where are these people going to go?" asked Kiernan.

The dangers of living in illegally converted apartments culminated in 1997. In April a fire killed four Polish immigrants in an illegal boarding house in Maspeth, Queens. Just three months later dozens of deaf and mute Mexican immigrants were found living in virtual slavery within tiny cubicles in Jackson Heights.

Carl Christensen, president of the Jackson Heights Neighborhood Association
PHOTO: Roshni Abayasekara

"It's disgusting that it should be permitted to continue," said Carl Christensen, president of the Jackson Heights Neighborhood Association. "I blame the city government, the state government and the federal government."

Malcolm Press, president of the Jackson Heights Community Development Board, said there’s a reason illegal conversions are not stopped. "They turn their head the other way rather than have them on the streets. There is just no place to put these people," he said.

There's no quick fix for illegal housing conversions.

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Factoids

Illegally converted houses or apartments:

  • are single-family homes that are turned into de facto boarding houses or hotels.

  • can hold up to 30 to 50 people.

  • are shoe box-like units rented to low-income tenants, mostly immigrants.

  • cost from $80 - $350 a month for a 6-by-8 room with a shared bathroom.

  • According to the latest Mayor's Management Report, 91 percent of the illegal conversion violations were issued in the borough of Queens.

  • totalled 100,000 in Queens.

SOURCES:
Queens Borough President's office and news reports


Jimmy Smith, former chairman
of CB 3, Jackson Heights
PHOTO: Roshni Abayasekara

"We’re not going to put anybody out onto the street," said Jimmy Smith.
"When a man comes back from work he’s got to have someplace to find his family. A place to sleep and eat."

 

The view one may have from an illegally converted room in the basement of 92nd Street and 34th Avenue, Jackson Heights, Queens.
PHOTO: Roshni Abayasekara