“As Rockland County government marked the fourth year of its crackdown on slum housing, Jennifer Rivera said Friday that she pays $520 a month rent for a tiny bedroom inside a rundown, violation-plagued house on Fairview Avenue.
As Health Department inspectors walked through the house with hopes of forcing the landlord to clean it up, Rivera said she and 11 other people live with rats, mice, and other animals entering though the attic and wood flooring softened by moisture.
Inspectors have cited the manager/owner Moshe Landau for 48 violations of the county sanitary code, including operation of an illegal boarding house, exposed piping and wires, mold and chipped paint, and garbage on the front lawn.”
The house comprises eight illegal rooms, some with locks, and has people living in the attic and basement. Each bedroom is equipped with a refrigerator and other appliances.
“It’s bad,” Rivera said of her two years inside the three-story house. “We pay rent, they don’t fix much of anything here. There are rats, mice.”
The total rent is $3,200, with each tenant paying a share.
“It’s too expensive,” Rivera said. “We all want a better house. I hope something gets done.”
Cracking the code
The Fairview Avenue house came under scrutiny following a complaint made to the Health Department’s Rockland Codes Initiative.
The program created four years ago this month targets substandard housing violating the county’s sanitary code.
Since its inception, the program has fielded 5,305 complaints, conducted 22,225 inspections, and issued 28,279 violations across the county. Substandard housing in Ramapo, including Spring Valley, gets the most attention.”
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