New York Hostels Being Shut Down by the City (May 1, 2011)

To add to my previous post. If there are any current or future NYC hostel owners/operators that would like to discuss what is going on in the city and/or if you have any ideas of how to keep NYC hostelling alive going forward, please don't hesitate to contact me. I understand if some hostel owners would like to keep their anonymity (and stay off the city's radar), but there still may be a way to silently support the cause under a united front. Anyone interested can contact me at [email][email protected][/email], on skype at chrisp522 or on the phone at 718-755-6755.
Thanks,
Chris

Here is the actual bill http://open.nysenate.gov/legislation/bill/S6873-2009. The following seems to be the main point causing the closing of hostels.

These owners have also claimed that the permanent or
long term residence requirement is met when the dwelling unit is
leased by a corporate entity for more than 30 days even though the
actual occupancy by individuals is less than 30 days. This bill would
put an end to these spurious defenses by defining the term "permanent
residence purposes" as occupancy by a natural person or family for 30
consecutive days or longer (the permanent occupants). Only the
permanent occupants would be permitted to allow occupancy of the
dwelling unit for less than 30 consecutive days and even then only by
lawful boarders, roomers or lodgers or house guests living within the
household of the permanent occupants or while the permanent occupants
are temporarily absent for vacation or other personal reason if there
is no monetary compensation for such use.

Here is a press release from the city itemizing the violations of some of the hostels that were closed. http://www.nyc.gov/portal/site/nycgov/menuitem.c0935b9a57bb4ef3daf2f1c701c789a0/index.jsp?pageID=mayor_press_release&catID=1194&doc_name=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nyc.gov%2Fhtml%2Fom%2Fhtml%2F2011a%2Fpr157-11.html&cc=unused1978&rc=1194&ndi=1

New York City is cracking down on the hostels in the City. Enforcement of the law was scheduled to go into effect on May 1st, and 15 hotels (including some hostels) were just shut down:

• http://www.dnainfo.com/20110515/upper-east-side/city-cracks-down-on-illegal-manhattan-hotels
• http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/city_sting_leads_to_hostel_takeovers_LUL7D9Y6brB7Vdbm4jibmJ

It isn't clear if the hostels were actually unsafe or if they just use the word "illegal" because New York City made hostels illegal:

It could be a combination of both.

It could be that the City went after the more unsafe hostels first(?) or that they just call any hostel accommodation "unsafe" for PR purposes.

If anyone has any more information, please post it. :)

Hello there,

My name is Brittney Leigh Stonewall and I'm a freelance travel writer. Referencing your post, I don’t believe the are laws are unclear however, I’ve deemed they were once ambiguous according to Mayor Bloomberg. I can agree. What I think is that the every hostel in New York City area isn’t illegal as long as it fits the description of the class a and class b in the law. In order for you to have a better understanding of the legalities at hand, I would like to introduce you to a site I’ve used when traveling the states and abroad. The web page is http://www.protect-vacation-rentals.com/ (Protect Vacation Rentals) and it breakdowns the do’s and don’ts of the Multiple Dwelling Law. This blog has been of tremendous help garnering the rules step by step. Once you take the time to sit down, relax and read this, you’ll have felt as I’ve apperceived, which is relieved. Trust me, it’ll take time deciphering the material, but this shall make it effortless. I hope you can enjoy what I’ve shared and never be afraid of what you cannot understand as we’re all learning.

I haven't been on hostelmanagement.com in a while, so I missed replying to this thread. Brownstone, there is no "loophole" that allows those hostels "with 10 people in a room" to exist. They just haven't been caught [yet], or no complaint was filed to warrant a visit by the DOB to lead to them getting violations/fined/vacated. It might happen or it might never happen. But the point is that it COULD happen.

I think the freelance travel writer/poster Brittney is well-intentioned, but as a writer (not an operator) is aware only of the CONTENT of the law and not its APPLICATION by the Department of Buildings (DOB)... or rather, devious applications by the DOB that even if technically illegal, are allowed to continue (DOB turning cameras away so their actions can't be recorded, to name just one of many).

I will give 2 examples.

In our case, we cleared the violations, had the Partial Vacate cleared, and ceased all hostel activity in that building. We moved to another building, where due to the supportiveness of our neighbors and no complaints with the DOB, we have never had a problem. Basically, we left the 1st building vacant, with just a few dismantled bunk beds...but within a few weeks, the DOB visited us again (to check-up, is my best guess). The building was vacant, so there was no one to answer the door, and they axed the door down (not legal, unless they had a court-issued warrant for this, which they didn't). And since there was no existing "vacate" order (like I said, we had already cleared it), it was definitely very illegal for them to just destroy private property on a "hunch." My best guess is they did it because they were sure they were going to catch us red-handed, still running an illegal hotel. Upon finding NO illegal activity (building was vacant, we weren't even there), and realizing that they had just vandalized an innocent house, they slapped on the same violations, copied verbatim from months ago (when we really had been guilty), and slapped a lock on our entrance door. The lock itself was also illegal (not merely because it was illegal for them to force-entry in the first place), but because we were issued only a "Partial" vacate ... Operative word being "partial," which does not permit them from putting a lock on the WHOLE house that would prevent us from accessing even the permissible areas of the house. If this is not some Orwellian twist of law by the very bodies meant to enforce the law, I don't know what is. The problem is that laws and agencies are run by people, who have egos, numbers to meet, meetings with their superiors where they like to show off, and often go on "hunches," not always within the restrictions of the very law they claim they are enforcing.

A 2nd case in point of the fact that the poster Brittney is incorrect when she states that the law is not so unclear, and infers that there IS a way for hostels to operate legally is the situation of NY Loft Hostel in Brooklyn, one of only 2 legal hostels in Brooklyn. When I say "legal," I mean that they have all the proper zoning, Certificate of Occupancy ("misc. hotel"), fire sprinklers/alarms, etc . Basically, they have all their T's crossed and I's dotted. The only thing to make them illegal is the little ridiculous caveat in the new law (passed after the hostel had already opened for business and invested millions $$) that states "no more than 3 unrelated people in the same room."

So, in spite of having the right zoning, the right fire safety, etc., just a few weeks ago, NY Loft Hostel was visited by the DOB, who vacated all their dorms (rooms with 3 or more people). I know this because we took in quite a few of their stranglers. The reason for the vacate is never stated as "more than 3 people in the same room," because even though this is technically illegal according to the new law, the DOB also knows they have a PR face to protect, and that silly restriction just doesn't garner the same support. Some other "fire safety" reason is usually quoted because it stirs strong emotions, even if inaccurate (in our case, we were accused of not having fire alarms, even though we did).

I am not a cheerleader for NY Loft Hostel, technically, they are our competitor, but the point is that the DOB has an agenda, and anyone can be a victim. That agenda is twofold: generate money (by issuing violations worth 1,000's of $$) and shut down places that are on its hit list, even if some of those properties have the right zoning and C of O.

Throughout history, various gov't agencies have become notorious for breaking laws, using aggressive illegal and violent tactics (police brutality, the army, foreign policy, targeted assassinations), and to believe that the DOB is any different, and does not itself break laws is naive. They differ only in degree, only in the level of destructiveness that they are able to carry out.

Brownstone, if interested, feel free to private message me, [email protected] ... We're both in NYC, and I'm happy to share privately any other questions you may have. Chris of inbed.me, good to see you on here (we met when you visited our hostel months ago, at Putnam, we're doing well at our 2nd location). Everyone else, good luck. Tootles, gypsystraveller (alina)