Township Cracks Down on Overcrowded Houses

Township officials in Brookhaven, N.Y., caught in an ongoing battle against extreme overcrowding of single-family houses -- apparently used as dormitories for immigrant laborers -- ordered the closing of three residences they said held as many as 90 tenants.

Dozens of residents of the Long Island houses -- two in Farmingville and one in Ronkonkoma -- were homeless Saturday after the closures.

In documents filed in State Supreme Court in Riverhead, the township alleged that the conditions in the houses, all with single-family zoning, were filthy and overcrowded, with fire hazards such as exposed wiring and blocked exits.

The homeowners each face possible $10,000 fines for violations of township codes, officials said, and the houses must be brought up to code.

The documents say that one house had “between 27 and 33 people” and that double beds blocked the front door and human waste overflowed from three backyard cesspools.

At another, 33 men lived with blocked exits and no smoke detectors, the court papers said. Brookhaven inspectors said there were 24 beds in five bedrooms at the house, with no living room space.

At the third, according to the documents, combustibles were stacked near a boiler, exposed wiring hung from walls and 28 men squeezed into a space zoned for a single family. The documents said there were 17 beds packed into the house.

At the town’s request, State Supreme Court Justice Ralph Castello ordered the houses closed. Brookhaven Councilman James Tullo said safety concerns at the three addresses trumped the need for housing.

“God forbid if there had been a fire,” Tullo said. “It could have been catastrophic.”

Brookhaven spokeswoman Inez Birbiglia said that notices in Spanish and English were posted at all three houses listing four social-service agencies that could steer occupants into temporary housing.

However, officials at three of the four agencies listed on the notices said their organizations could do little for the evicted tenants.

“We don’t do housing,” said Carmen Maquilon, director of Catholic Charities immigration services, one of the agencies listed on the notice. “I’m outraged because it gives false information.”

After Friday’s court order, Nadia Marin-Molina, director of the Workplace Project, an immigration advocacy group, said she called the Nassau-Suffolk Coalition for the Homeless, apparently the only agency listed on the notice devoted to housing.

“I called and left messages and said, ‘Where should people stay tonight?’ ” Marin-Molina said. “I’m afraid that it’s Friday and nobody’s there.” Calls to the coalition offices in Hempstead by Newsday were also not returned.

Friday’s actions were the latest in a series taken by Brookhaven to combat illegally overcrowded houses. Last month, the township ordered three other rooming houses shut in Farmingville. Advocacy groups said some of the residents of those houses became homeless as a result.

After the notices were posted at the three houses Friday, the ousted tenants at one did not seem to understand that the house had been ordered closed. Several said they had nowhere to go.

“It’s an injustice what they are doing,” said a 20-year-old man who gave his name as Armando. He would not give his last name. Armando said he shared the basement of the rooming house with six others, including Victor, 26, who said he might have to go back to Mexico.

“We know that they don’t want us here,” Victor said in Spanish.