Cracking down on illegal housing

Officials say the crackdown has substantially reduced the public safety risks from illegal housing in the city of 90,000, where low-cost housing is in high demand. "We've been very successful with all these investigations," said Jay Duca, the city's director of inspectional services.

The March 25 fire, which killed Iraqi refugee Oudah Frawi and his two young sons, Ali and Hassan, took place in a Robertson Street building that had two more apartments than its permitted four. The unit where the deaths occurred lacked smoke alarms, and a hardwired smoke alarm system in the hallways had been turned off.

The state fire marshal's office was still working last week to determine whether criminal charges will be made against the building's owners, Jinny Xiu Ma and Andy Huang, according to the Norfolk district attorney's office.

Quincy residents, meanwhile, have deluged city officials with reports of illegal housing, and a city task force created two years ago to investigate illegal rooming houses has been investigating all reports of unlicensed dwellings, from basement apartments to built-out ga rages to rooming houses serving more than the permitted number of tenants.

As of April 30, the task force has made 180 inspections since the fire, Duca said. Seventy have been identified as unlicensed and were posted to vacate, of which 52 are being resolved or have already been resolved by physical changes to illegal units to prevent them from being used as separate housing.

About half of the cases - 96 - remain open. Inspectors have gone to court with complaints of unlicensed housing in many of these. Forty-five cases are in court, Duca said, with 28 scheduled to be heard later this month at Quincy District Court.

John Brothers, director of Quincy Asian Resources Inc., said the high number of illegal dwellings discovered since the fire speaks to the need for housing low-income families can afford.

"It's a huge, ongoing issue," Brothers said. While "everyone believes housing needs to be made safe," even housing classified as affordable under state rules is not in fact affordable for many families, he said.

Some landlords, however, are exploiting the housing demand for private gain at risk to public safety, said Jay Davis, chairman of the City Council.

"There is also an issue of greed," said Davis. "Those [illegal] apartments existed to make more money." Some property owners also operate on a cash basis to avoid a paper trail that would bring inspections, he said.

The 180 reports of illegal housing received since the fire are a significant jump, compared with 86 complaints received all of last year, Duca said.

Some of the new complaints were found to be unwarranted. In a few cases of unlicensed housing, Duca said, the owners of the dwellings may be able to make needed adjustments to bring separate housing units within code and apply for permits. In addition to smoke alarms, safety rules for separate apartments require two exits for each unit and an emergency escape window no more than 44 inches off the floor in each sleeping room.

In cases where illegal dwellings have been closed, Duca said: "We made it very clear: We posted the building; we notified the authorities." Inspectors have followed up to make sure the illegal dwellings are no longer occupied, he said.

Inspectors have also mandated the "deconstruction" of illegal apartments by ordering removal of entire walls, bathrooms, electrical systems - "putting it back the way it was," Duca said.

But while unlicensed dwellings have been closed and tenants forced to evacuate, so far no one has been left homeless, he said. "We have not come across anyone who could not find alternative housing."

Duca said the "trickle-down effect" of unlicensed dwellings presents other problems for city neighborhoods: "More people, more vehicles, they use the schools, trash pickup." The increase in complaints, inspections, and follow-up work by city officials has also burdened city departments that make up the inspection task force: fire, police, health, building and code enforcement.

"We're obviously stretched to the limit," Duca said. "Instead of once a month, we go out two or three times a week."

Davis said the city had set up the task force to share information and oversee inspections two years ago when it began hearing complaints about illegal rooming houses.

"Not to be lost in the tragedy," Davis said, "we have been doing a good job cracking down."

An inspection had been planned for the building in which the fire took place on March 27, before tragedy struck.

Robert Knox can be contacted at rc.knox2@gmail.com.