Councilmember Peirina Sanchez, the new chair of the City Council’s Committee on Housing and Buildings, said in a recent radio interview she plans to focus on code enforcement at future committee hearings. She is aiming to look at how city agencies respond to unsafe living conditions in apartments across the five boroughs. Sanchez served as a housing advisor to Mayor Bill de Blasio from 2018 to 2020.
One level deeper: The Committee on Housing and Buildings has jurisdiction over New York City’s rent regulation policies and practices, as well as the Department of Buildings and Department of Housing Preservation and Development.
“Although HPD and DOB are responding quickly to 311 complaints and sending out inspectors, there is a very troubling lag time and delay in terms of closure of these complaints,” she said. “It’s one thing to get an inspector out right away and that’s a good thing, [but] the ultimate goal is safety in our homes.” Penalties, she added, “should be a huge stick, a huge disincentive,” but for large landlords, “it becomes a slap on the wrist.”
Source: New York Apartment Law – Insider