Big Apple lawmakers are looking to crack down on the scourge of squatters in the city by creating a multi-agency task force which could more quickly give illegal occupants the boot.
City Councilwoman Kamillah Hanks (D-Staten Island) introduced legislation last week that would establish a task force made up of employees from the NYPD, and Buildings and Sanitation departments, among others, who would promptly respond to squatting complaints and give squatters the heave ho.
“We have homeowners living in fear as gang members and drug activity moves in next door,” Hanks, a moderate Democrat, told The Post. “Squatting has become a growing concern in many communities, causing damage to buildings and disrupting peace.”
New Yorkers have sounded the alarm in recent months on harrowing home takeover, prompting lawmakers to include language in the $237 billion state budget barring squatters from claiming protection under tenants’ rights.
In Hanks’ own district, which covers Staten Island’s North Shore, deadbeats have turned one unoccupied home on Livermore Avenue into a drug den, while another constituent has shelled out $17,000 in water bills due to freeloaders occupying her late mother’s home.
The proposed task force would also work to ward off potential squatters by alerting landlords of abandoned buildings’ about their vulnerabilities to illegal occupants and reminding them of their duties to maintain their neglected properties, according to the bill.
The task force members also will help subtenants who are unknowingly renting from squatters find legitimate housing, Hanks said.
Ann Korchak, president of Small Property Owners of New York, offered some praise for recent legislation but said the bills need more teeth.
“Similar to bills that we saw coming out of Albany, none of them go far enough,” she said. “But it is definitely a recognition that there’s a problem here, which gives me some hope.”
Korchak called on state lawmakers to pass legislation introduced in March by state Sen. Mario Mattera, which would allow cops to boot squatters based on sworn testimony from homeowners and avoid drawn-out court battles.
The mayor’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
