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MEDIA RELEASE JUNE 25, 2008 |
CONTACT:
JOSHUA SLAUGHTER |
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Towns will provide information needed to move social services recipients into better housing
County Legislator Kate Browning was joined by County Executive Steve Levy, center, and Social Service Chief Deputy Commissioner Greg Blass in explaining to members of the press their newly adopted legislation to fight substandard housing. Hauppauge, NY - Legislator Kate Browning was joined by County Executive Steve Levy in praising legislation passed by the County Legislature Tuesday at its meeting in Riverhead that will offer Social Services officials a new method for battling substandard housing and ensuring that public assistance recipients have adequate housing accommodations. The resolution will allow town supervisors and village mayors to submit written notice to the Department of Social Services (DSS) about housing accommodations that are in violation of applicable building codes, ordinances and/or regulations. Subsequently, DSS officials will be required to notify the owners of the property. If the dwelling is occupied by public assistance recipients, the violations must be addressed within 20 days. If the violations are not addressed, DSS would work with any willing public assistance recipient residing at the dwelling to find alternative housing. “Slumlords have been allowed to take advantage of those less fortunate in Suffolk County for far too long,” stated Browning. “For over 20 years, nothing has been done to address this issue, while the quality of life in our neighborhoods has deteriorated and property values have dropped. For the first time, all levels of government are working together to put an end to this abuse of taxpayer dollars. County Executive Steve Levy and I worked diligently to create a long lasting solution, while at the same time abiding by state law and protecting the rights of individuals. I truly believe we have taken a tremendous step in the right direction.” The innovative new law forges a partnership between the towns and the county in fighting substandard housing that plagues many communities, including several in Legislator Browning’s district, while ensuring that families receiving housing assistance have safe and habitable housing. Town Supervisors will be asked to provide DSS with a list of the ten most egregious housing violations they are currently dealing with and DSS inspectors will then check to see if any of the listed homes are occupied by DSS clients. The inspectors will notify landlords that they have 20 days to correct the violations, or DSS will move the tenants if they wish. After those 10 homes are taken care of, Supervisors will be asked to submit another 10-home list. “This new law will hit unscrupulous landlords where they will feel it—in the pocketbook,” said Legislator Browning. “Combining the forces of town building inspectors with DSS officials to fight substandard housing is an important step towards cleaning up the substandard and illegal rentals plaguing our neighborhoods.” Legislator Browning said the new law will increase the pressure on unscrupulous landlords to clean up their acts or face the loss of rent checks. It will also allow DSS and town building inspectors to pool resources in the fight against substandard housing. Additionally, the law does not violate state laws governing the confidentiality of housing aid recipients, and state Social Services officials have signed off on the law. An earlier bill proposed by County Legislator Ed Romaine was defeated by the Legislature because it was clearly in violation of state confidentiality rules, and would have been thrown out in court after the useless expenditure of county taxpayer money fighting a legal battle that could not be won. “State laws governing confidentiality have been an impediment to effectively combating substandard housing, but this law meets all those confidentiality requirements, unlike Mr. Romaine’s bill, which would have been nothing more than a waste of taxpayer money fighting a losing legal battle,” said Legislator Browning. “I was very disappointed that Legislator Romaine failed to support the establishment of this important new tool in the fight against substandard housing.” |
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