Survey On Local Efforts To Curb Illegal Apartments

Elected officials are telling us that things are getting better, that we’re gaining the upper hand on illegal accessory apartments. Others, mostly those in the trenches, say that, despite efforts to strengthen and plug loopholes in the law, the illegal apartment crisis is burgeoning.

We’d like to know how you perceive the situation in your hometown, and ask that you respond to this informal – and most unscientific – survey. You may withhold your name, if you’d like, but please tell us the locality (i.e., Town, village, etc.) in which you reside so that we may have a sense of place.

1. In your opinion, over the course of the past year, the illegal apartment situation in my town has:
(a) Improved;
(b) Gotten Worse;
(c) Remained the same;
(d) What illegal rental problem?

2. Local governments, be they the villages or the Towns, are responsible for enforcing the Building Codes that prohibit and restrict accessory apartments. In your opinion, over the course of the past year, has local government (please specify Town, village, etc.):
(a) Improved efforts to enforce the law;
(b) Paid lip service to the law, with no increase in enforcement;
(c) Done nothing to enforce the law;
(e) What law?

3. As concerns accountability, do you feel your elected officials have stepped up to the plate, doing what is required of them to stem the tide of illegal accessory apartments?
(a) Absolutely;
(b) Are you kidding?;
(c) They’ve done the bare minimum, and nothing more;
(d) What illegal rental problem?

4. In your opinion, what is required of government in order to eliminate, or at least limit, illegal rental apartments in your community?
(a) Enforcement of the law, with prosecution to the fullest extent;
(b) An increase in mailings and glossy brochures from elected officials;
(c) A bulldozer;
(d) More affordable housing for seniors, workforce and the middle class;
(e) Both (a) and (d) above.

Hey, these are loaded questions! Okay, we already know the answers. And by the way, so do you. Let’s here from you – by e-mail, smoke signal, at public forums and, mostly, at the polls that really count!