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The Delmonte Motel, a room and board house for many who find themselves in a temporary transient state, is located just over a block away from the beach on First Avenue.

But the 50-room multi-story dwelling is among those classified as a ‘bad property,’ having skirted code enforcement action despite numerous complaints.

In a written statement, Robert McKeon, the city’s director of property improvement and neighborhood preservation said attempts to investigate tenant complaints was thwarted by the state’s Department of Community Affairs [DCA].

Two code officers and a Monmouth County Health Department representative were prepared to spend 3 to 4 hours inspecting the interior and exterior of the property, he said. Instead they were met by a DCA officials who refused them access. 

“The DCA representatives’ reason was that the City had no authority, nor jurisdiction, to be inspecting the property and enforcing its’ code,” McKeon [at right] said. “As a result, the inspection never took place, and as of this date, the conditions giving rise to the complaints we received from neighbors of the property remain unabated. To say we are frustrated would be an understatement.”

Most frustrated are its residents.

Among them is Brian Sturdee who pays $200 per week for a room and private bath but said the living conditions are substandard. After 10 months the Neptune Walmart employee is hoping to relocate to a studio on Asbury Avenue.

“Everybody has bed bugs and everybody has roaches, but the roaches are worst” Sturdee said. “The shower looks like it was metal and they painted and now the paint is chipped. It’s nasty. I wear shower shoes in my own shower because it’s gross.”

Property Manager James Hurry, who led the senators through a tour of the property said all repairs, property maintenance and extermination is handle in house. He said all tenant complaints are handled in house.

Hurry explained that the over 50 tenants have access to a washing machine in the common area, also outfitted with tables and microwaves.

“We don’t have a kitchen,” he said.

And when asked about the eviction process for those who don’t pay their portion of subsidized rent due to complaint, he said. “We give them a grace period but then we’d have to take it to Freehold.”

A new bill, No. S3270, crosses the aisle in order to introduce a set of fail safes to protect tenants and create a seamless line of communication between local, state and county officials.

Entitled the Safe Sanitary Subsidized Rental Housing Bill of Rights, the legislation authored by Senators Jennifer Beck [R-11] and Ronald Rice [D-28] has unanimously cleared committee.

“It’s kind of mystifying that as you stand here in 2017 that we have kids living in these horrible conditions, beyond squalor, and taxpayers are paying for it,” Beck said Tuesday afternoon before touring the First Avenue property.

It was the first stop for the bipartisan duo on a five stop tour that included a second Asbury Park property and three Newark locations.

“I commend Sen. Beck for taking a strong role in this initiative because this problem is not just in one municipality, it is a statewide problem,” Rice said. “We have been trying to address these bad landlords for a number of years with legislation and municipal ordinances but they continue to flip the buildings. They are LLCs that you can’t identify and unfortunately the taxpayers are paying a lot of money to subsidize [them], the residents who need the help are suffering, and local government is being blamed for not doing enough.”

Beck said among the key points in the bill is a mandate to include a posted 211 number so that tenants of Section 8 units have a direct route to lodge complaints without the fear of retaliation.

“The laws on the books are strict,” Beck said. “But there has been a lack of communication between HUD, the state, the municipality and the tenants. All the organizations aren’t working in unison to ensure the conditions are habitable.”  

LLC’s will have to provide the name of a property owner, cell phone, work number, and a working email to the municipality and the state so they can do their enforcement, Beck said. The contact information must be updated every year.

“They have to be working but they will be subject to a fine,” Beck said. In Asbury Park, one post office box was the mailing address for some 300 LLCs, she said.

Another key component to the bill is to reign in a bad landlords ability to collect full rent once numerous complaints are filed.

“DCA and HUD currently pay full rent despite violations,” Beck said. “The bill says you can withhold partial or full rental payments until the landlord remedies the situation. And if they do not, you [a municipality] can use what was withheld to remedy it yourself.”

The bill also calls for municipalities to get their records on line with the help of the state and DCA.

“Many of our municipalities are still using paper records so it is hard to track the bad actors that go from town to town,” she said.

Lastly, those that end up on the bad property management list will be inspected every 6 months as opposed to every five years, Beck said. For those who do nothing wrong, the inspection cycle will become every 8 years.

“So we are going to reward the good and punish the bad,” Beck said.

For full details about the bill, click here. 

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