Nearly four months after the 1915 Billingsley Terrace partial collapse in Morris Heights, Bronx City Council Member Pierina Sanchez on Thursday announced legislation aimed at establishing stricter regulations for apartment building safety and landlord participation.
Sanchez, who represents the Bronx’s District 14 on the New York City Council, stood outside City Hall on April 25 and said more should have been done to prevent the collapse in December, which displaced more than 100 people.
“Questions remain about what the Department of Buildings could have done to prevent this tragedy and whether our systems are doing enough to let us know whether we are doing enough to keep our tenants safe,” Sanchez said. “The reality is that we have a systemic issue here in the city of New York.”
On Dec. 11, 2023, the six-story residential building in the west Bronx partially collapsed — and even though the collapse yielded zero deaths, the damage was catastrophic. A city investigation revealed that along with prior violations, the Manhattan-based engineer who had designed the building, Richard Koenigsberg, mistook a load-bearing column with a decorative, non-structural one in his blueprints. The city announced it would suspend Koenigsberg from performing façade inspections for two years, and charge him a $10,000 fine. The Legal Aid Society and Billingsley tenants also filed a lawsuit earlier this year against the building’s landlords to try to speed up the recovery efforts.
Juan Ricart, a tenant of 1915 Billingsley Terrace since 1986, said on April 25 that he’s been having issues with repair requests for the past 18 years living in the building. He is one of the tenants whose apartment was destroyed in the collapse.
“Half of my apartment was wiped out with all the debris that came from the sixth floor, because I live on the first floor,” Ricart said. “I could see my room lying down over the grocery store that was on the ground floor.”
Ricart said he was living in a city shelter for three months following the collapse, which he described as a “small box,” until his landlord offered him a new apartment at 1915 Billingsley Terrace.
“I lost weight because I had no place to cook until about three weeks ago,” he said. “From Dec. 11 to March 15, I was eating like the birds.”
According to Sanchez’ office, the new legislation — dubbed the Billingsley Structural Integrity Bill — proposes five key measures:
- A risk-based inspection program to identify structural hazards by utilizing data like age, construction material, layout, permit and violation history, prior maintenance records, among others;
- A clause that would require building owners to submit a corrective action plan within 10 days of a violation notice;
- A clause that would require building owners to address hazardous violations immediately and lesser violations within 30 days of a violation notice;
- A clause prohibiting the commissioner from issuing non-emergency work permits to buildings with outstanding violations;
- And increased civil penalties for failing to correct violations through the risk-based inspection program.
Adriene Holder, chief attorney at the Legal Aid Society, said during the legislation announcement that clients are still displaced and “continue to face instability in their daily lives.”
“No New Yorker should have to suffer such a nightmare, and this legislation is a strong step toward helping to ensure that our clients’ homes are structurally sound and safe to reside in, and that the city has the inspection tools necessary to prevent further collapses,” Holder said.
According to Sanchez’s office, the Billingsley Structural Integrity Bill hearing, which took place on April 25 at 10 a.m., also featured similar legislation related to structural load capacity of parking garages and structures, asbestos surveys and abatement, tenant relocation services and more.
“New Yorkers deserve to both be and feel safe in their homes, yet the collapse at 1915 Billingsley Terrace raises concerns about the effectiveness of our practices,” Sanchez said. “The Billingsley Structural Integrity Bill would move this city toward ensuring that all New Yorkers have access to safe and dignified housing.”
Paul Frangipane contributed to this report.
Reach Camille Botello at cbotello@schnepsmedia.com. For more coverage, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @bronxtimes
