Opinion: A Storm is Coming. The State Must Act Now to Make Basement Apartments Safe.

“By refusing to include the hardest-hit neighborhoods in the revamped pilot, New York State is complicit in the ongoing danger facing these residents. Basement safety is not a luxury, it’s a matter of life or death and we need to right this wrong.”

On Sept. 1, 2021, Hurricane Ida dumped an unprecedented 3.5 inches of rain per hour on New York City—nine inches in total. Our city’s outdated sewer system was quickly overwhelmed, leading to 13 deaths. Eleven of those people drowned in basement apartments.

Just this month, over two inches of rain fell on New York City in just one hour—the second rainiest hour since Ida. Once again, streets turned into rivers and subways flooded. Water poured into unregulated, unsafe basement units. Constituents have told us that every time it rains, they brace for impact. As we approach the fourth-year anniversary of Hurricane Ida, we are still failing to protect our most vulnerable. 

That’s why we introduced Resolution 991 in the City Council, urging Albany lawmakers to pass bills A.597/S.2507 that would expand the state’s basement conversion pilot program to include unfairly excluded communities. This program, which the city has failed to roll out in a timely manner, would make hundreds and even thousands more basement apartments safe.

RELATED READING: Navigating NYC’s Housing Crisis Through Basement Living

Extreme flooding is no longer a freak event. As climate change accelerates, decades of inaction have led to extreme weather becoming the norm. The new seasonal reality will be flash floods and torrential storms. Yet much of our housing stock remains woefully unprepared. As environmental and housing crises are colliding, no one feels the danger more than the hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers living in basement apartments. 

The problem is further exacerbated by Donald Trump and Republicans cutting over $300 million in FEMA funding for New York City and New York State flood mitigation, which affects Bushwick, East New York, East Elmhurst, Corona, and Astoria residents the most. 

The city tried to make basement apartments safe through the Basement Conversion Pilot Program many years ago, only to be stymied by city funding cuts and state regulatory barriers. Last spring, the state lifted many of those barriers but confusingly excluded the working-class neighborhoods of color with some of the highest concentrations of basement units. Yet again our communities have been left out of the conversation.

None of the community boards in our districts were included in this pilot even though Community Board 5, represented by Councilmember Nurse, hosted the original pilot many years ago before petering out due to the aforementioned barriers—the same barriers which were lifted through recent State action. 

By refusing to include the hardest-hit neighborhoods in the revamped pilot, New York State is complicit in the ongoing danger facing these residents. Basement safety is not a luxury, it’s a matter of life or death and we need to right this wrong.

We cannot wait for the next storm to remind us of our failures. Ida was the warning and the clock is ticking. The state must act now to make sure that every home can be a safe shelter. 

Sandy Nurse and Shekar Krishnan are members of the New York City Council representing neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Queens respectively. They submitted this op-ed in partnership with the Basement Apartments Safe for Everyone (BASE) Coalition.