A town in Rockland County is cracking down on property management companies and absentee owners looking to make money off the migrant crisis.
The town of Clarkstown is going after those who are illegally renting out houses, often to multiple families.
Officials in the town say profiteers are increasingly illegally converting single-family homes in neighborhoods and packing in renters. The conditions in some after often dangerous for the families, as well as first responders.
One tenant said there are five families living in a single-family home in New City, a home recently raided by Clarkstown inspectors. Pictures show beds in the attic, accessible only through a crawl space.
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"Had there been a fire here, people would have died. There's only way in and out of that attic, it's up a flight of steps and then through an opening that you have to crawl through," Clarkstown Supervisor George Hoehmann said.
The I-Team made several efforts to contact First Choice, the property management company now being taken to court by Clarkstown for allegedly violating local laws. No one from the firm responded.
Clarkstown's supervisor said a number of absentee owners in the town are utilizing one property management company: First Choice. Hoehmann said the firm operates 37 properties in Clarkstown and 302 more throughout the rest of the county. At the moment, 17 of the properties are a concern.
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"They've denied access at multiple locations, were non-responsive when violations have been issued. These are houses that were allegedly altered, systematically altered, in violation of our building codes," the supervisor said Thursday.
The town began investigating in September after inspectors found 34 migrants living in an illegally converted house in New City run by First Choice. A judge ordered the home vacated and restored to a single-family dwelling.
Clarkstown is now going to court to try and get access to the 17 homes First Choice oversees and make sure they are up to code. Officials and first responders are calling for more oversight of the property management companies and resources from the state to battle the illegal housing issue.
