Ask the Architect

‘How can we ever manage to get ahead?’

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Q. We bought a house two years ago and now have a 1-year-old. We both work, and most of our earnings pay for our mortgage. Any extra income is a necessity, which is why we have a tenant in our finished basement. She’s a young professional who pays her bills and, just like us, works hard, hoping to get ahead. Our problem is that we’re expecting again, and want to add another floor to our cape. We hired an architect and were ready to get started, but canceled when we learned that we would lose our tenant and have to do a lot of work to remove a second kitchen, make windows larger or have to get a zoning variance. It seems that the building department is working against young people. How can we ever manage to get ahead instead of always struggling and, really, how can we go about changing these rules?

A. You make a very good point about rules, and that they don’t always work the way we want them to. But first you have to examine why the rules exist. The original intention was for safety, since having tenants has led to unsafe practices such as overloaded wiring and adapting spaces that were too restrictive for occupants to escape or even breathe in the event of a fire. I’ve seen rooms with no windows, hot plates for cooking, loose and bare wires running under carpets and other life-threatening conditions that make one shiver. One village has a wall of shame where they post a photo of the building violation of the month.

Unless you know what can harm you, you may not know you’re living dangerously. But, economically and socially, there are good reasons to permit a second living unit in a single-family dwelling. Some municipalities, yours included, have defined these separate areas within a home, specifically for people over age 62, as senior living units or mother/daughter use, which actually refers to any family relative. What you need is for your municipality to allow second-family use.

Since I see illegal second-family homes several times a week, it’s clear that there’s a need, whether financial or social, like when a family member or friend has difficulties and a caring person is reaching out to them. One such instance was a couple who found out that a woman they’d known most of their lives had to go into a nursing home, leaving behind a grown son with Down syndrome to fend for himself. They took him in, were reported, and spent a lot of money, enough to require a fundraiser, just to give him an independent space in their converted attached garage apartment. Since there is a need, you have to find others with the same issues, perhaps through social media, and begin to petition and make your case to your local government. To be continued next week.

© 2016 Monte Leeper. Readers are encouraged to send questions to yourhousedr@aol.com, with “Herald question” in the subject line, or to Herald Homes, 2 Endo Blvd., Garden City, NY 11530, Attn: Monte Leeper, architect.