Aggressive enforcement of building and safety codes against two of the illegal boarding houses in Peekskill is restoring those houses, potentially saving the lives of tenants.

The two houses — at 958 Paulding Street and 152 Fremont Street — are owned by Antonio and Jaime Reyes, landlords with a history of cramming multiple tenants into overcrowded properties full of building code violations.

City inspectors gained access to both houses after potential catastrophic events that could have easily killed the people who lived there — a 2024 gas leak at 958 Paulding and a 2023 Thanksgiving week fire at 152 Fremont.

Photographs taken after both incidents reveal the living conditions inside the illegal boarding houses: dirty mattresses on unfinished attic floors tucked under the eaves, electrical boxes overloaded with illegal wiring, filthy kitchens with food scraps on the floor, walls exposed to the studs with no sheet rock or paint, and more.

After Peekskill shut down both houses, a months-long series of court hearings finally forced the building owners to comply with the city’s demands that all the code violations be corrected and fines paid. Now 958 Paulding is re-opened to occupants and work is ongoing at 152 Fremont.

City goes after unsafe conditions

Peekskill City Manager Matt Alexander outlined his plan to tackle the issue of unsafe, overcrowded properties last August. At an Aug. 12, 2024 meeting, the Peekskill Common Council unanimously passed a resolution to retain outside counsel to represent the city in certain dangerous building and property matters.

An outside law firm hired by the city is charged with taking legal action against properties that “continuously interfere with the interest of the public and the quality of life.” The litigation was expected to fund itself, with monies granted to the city by a court will cover the costs of the outside counsel.

“The city intends to take action to put a stop to issues surrounding quality of life problems,” Alexander said at the 2024 council meeting.

Two months later, on Oct. 8, 2024, Con Edison was notified of an active gas leak by a sensor on the gas meter at 958 Paulding St., the single-family house owned by Antonio Reyes. The house was deemed unsafe for use and the gas service was disconnected, the tenants evacuated, and signage was posted warning against entry, according to court papers.

A city building inspector also went to the house that day and issued three code violations. He determined the property was being operated as a rooming house for 30 people.

The house was closed by order of the Building Inspector. “Antonio Reyes failure … to address the immediate need to obtain an electrical permit and install an electrical service – upon proper inspection – and based upon the certificate of occupancy to operate the rental, use or lease as a one-family property has resulted in the risk of imminent catastrophic property and personal injury,” the attorney for Peekskill wrote in court papers. 

Since that order to close the property, all work has been completed and all fines paid, according to Louis Chisani, the attorney representing Antonio Reyes. The city of Peekskill was represented in the court action by the White Plains law firm Hodges Walsh Burke LLP.

One year earlier, on Nov. 28, 2023, a fire broke out at 152 Fremont St., the three-family house owned by Jaime Reyes. Peekskill Fire Department personnel responded on the frigid, wind-whipped evening and were assisted by the Mohegan, Buchanan, Yorktown and Montrose Veterans Administration fire departments to evacuate the residents and put out the flames.

According to court documents, 30 people were living in the home illegally in a boarding house, with makeshift walls and seven kitchens in violation of the property’s certificate of occupancy.

The next day, on Nov. 29, Peekskill officials issued a notice of violation to Reyes, alleging that the electrical system in the house created a hazardous condition that made the house unsafe for occupancy. Four days later police responded to a report of people continuing to live at 152 Fremont St. and removed them from the building.

While Reyes did obtain a permit in July 2024 to do electrical work, a building inspector determined in August that he did more work than the permit allowed. Reyes was ordered to remove the walls and re-apply for a permit and inspection.

Reyes’ attorney filed a letter in court papers last year claiming that Reyes is now cooperating with the city’s Building Department in the renovation work. Work is ongoing at the house now.

Correcting violations before catastrophes happen

A proposal from the city’s then Corporation Counsel to set up a registration and licensing system for landlords was presented to the Common Council in January 2024. Under the plan, property owners who rent to tenants would be required to register with the city and then receive a license to operate.

Re-inspections could then be triggered by complaints, abandoned property, unpaid taxes or excessive exterior violations as is done in other municipalities. “This is a more robust way of addressing our rental market,” former Acting Corporation Counsel Michael Hartman told the Common Council in 2024. “We can use it more effectively to enforce our code and we can turn our rental market into one where we can regulate the worst actors and incentivize the best players in the market. The goal is to get the properties to comply and it keeps the landlords accountable.”

If that proposal were adopted, the city would set up a database and issue certificates. Property owners and landlords would then be licensed under the program. Certificates can be transferred with the property if ownership changes. “The ultimate goal of this is to get these properties to comply with regards to [the] number of people occupying the various units – it creates a proactive way for landlords to report and it keeps the landlords accountable,” Hartman said.

Speaking at the Peekskill Common Council meeting earlier this month, Mayor Vivian McKenzie expressed a desire to enforce laws on overcrowding. “We need to make sure that landlords are properly keeping their apartments so that people are safe and apartments are not chopped up,” McKenzie said. 

Fire Chief Jim Seymour told Council members at the April 18 Council work session that the department has discovered overcrowding issue when responding to Con Ed calls for gas leaks. 

“When we find that issue we call the Building Department and it has led to us closing down a few residences,” Seymour said. “Some of these landlords are telling their residents don’t call the fire department in an emergency because you’ll have nowhere to live. We don’t want to come back to 2 o’clock in the morning and have people jumping out of their windows.”

The city has the authority to conduct routine fire inspections on certain properties, including apartment buildings, public spaces, hotels, downtown businesses and three- and four-family houses. Single-family and two-family houses are excluded from regular fire inspections.

“We have found and cleared out over two dozen homes in the past year and a half,” said Peekskill Building Inspector Nick Cecere. “They are either overcrowded or improper living conditions people living in attics, in basements.”

Cecere told the Council that if his department gets complaints about unsafe conditions or overcrowding a request-to-inspect order will be entered and followed through by a door knock and then a letter. The department can go to court if the owner doesn’t respond.