Curbing illegal housing through accessory apartments

It’s no secret that several unincorporated parts of the Town of Hempstead have more than their fair share of illegal rentals. The lack of legal apartments in the area is partially to blame, as are the high rental costs of those available. Past town solutions never seemed to make a meaningful dent in the problem, and allows landlords to continue renting parts of their homes without regards to fire safety and other important housing concerns.

Perhaps a look at the Town of Huntington’s accessory apartment policy might be an answer.

According to the the Town of Huntington’s Accessory Apartment Bureau, anyone with a single family home that meets certain requirements can establish and charge rent for an accessory apartment within their house, and here are the best parts:

• The annual cost for filing for a permit: $175. 

• The annual increase in real estate taxes: none, except for an increase in the refuse fee, which for an accessory apartment would be roughly $175 annually, according to A.J. Carter, a spokesman for the Town of Huntington. 

The town’s accessory apartment policy has been issuing permits to its residents since 1992, and currently has 1,593 accessory apartments within the township.

The Town of Hempstead also has an accessory apartment policy, but it is applicable only to members of the homeowner’s immediate family and to senior citizens. The Town of Huntington allows anyone into an accessory apartment, as long as the home is owner-occupied and meets the below guidelines. For more detailed information, refer to the Town of Huntington’s website at www.huntingtonny.gov.

• The residence lot size must be a minimum of 7500 square ft., with no less than 75 linear ft. in frontage width. 
• The accessory apartment must have no less than 300 square ft. of habitable living space and not more than 650 square ft. of habitable living space. Living space includes kitchen, bedrooms and living area. The accessory apartment is limited to a maximum of two bedrooms.   
• The accessory apartment is not located in an area where 10% or more of the lots within a one-half mile radius of your parcel contain accessory apartments.