Illegal SRO on the Block?

Good morning, Brownstoners, At a recent block assn. mtg., we were informed that a homeless shelter was setting up shop on the block in a house that was recently for sale (but did not sell). We did our due diligence and researched the address and contacted a number of agencies/organizations that might be involved. Specifically, the Department of Homeless Services was not involved, and the group that we were told was in charge – Ready, Willing, and Able – was also not a player. When we looked the place up on the DOB website, we saw that there was an active partial vacate on the site (along with a number of open violations), and that there was a complaint as recently as Dec. of 2011 about the house being used as “rent rooms”. The block association is planning to do two things: approach the person in charge on site to ask about the set-up, and attempt to contact the owner to find out if our suspicions are true. If it is an illegal operation, as we suspect, we don’t expect to get a straight answer from either party. If this occurs, then a number of us plan to call 311 to report the activity. Our question is, has anyone else had to deal with a situation like this, and, if so, what suggestions do you have for dealing with this effectively? Thanks, everyone.

SewardWasRight

in Quality of Life 13 years and 11 months ago

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Mads54 | 13 years and 11 months ago

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P.S. if said building had already been designated as an SRO -you might run into difficulties.  As you say that the bldg did not sell-this might be the issue as it is difficult to undo an existing SRO.  Don’t only use the DOB data base.  Look also to ACRIS -get the block and lot nbr from the DOB data base and use same to search ACRIS.

Mads54 | 13 years and 11 months ago

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Check your zoning laws as well as the C of O for the building in question.

pigthree | 13 years and 11 months ago

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additionally, they notified the entire neighborhood (probably 10 blocks in all directions) via flyers regarding the situation.  More comunity interest beyond your block in these type of situation can be a tremendous help on pressuring officials to act.

pigthree | 13 years and 11 months ago

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The owners of Brooklynite Gallery recently delt with this same/similar situation.  They were sucessufl in getting it shut down rather quickly.  You could probably contact them directly do discuss their course of action.

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contact your local city council person