After saving all their lives, five Hispanic families in the Bronx achieved the American Dream of owning their own homes. The houses they purchased, however, have started to deteriorate in less than a year and they fear that the construction company will not make the repairs needed before their guarantees run out.
The three-story houses where the families live, which they bought for more than $300,000 thanks to a city subsidy, are numbers 990, 992, 994, and 996 Freeman Street, and 1216 Bryant Street.
Carlos Bretón, the owner of the house at 996 Freeman Street, said that the main problem the houses have is that, instead of installing a drainpipe running toward the street from the central drain of each house, the contractor, Tri Plus Construction Corp., provided one drainpipe for all the houses. Now whenever it rains, sewage rises into the houses and floods the basements.
William Arias, of 992, said that in fewer than six months the houses' roofs began to crack, and sometimes the leakage goes all the way to the basement, spilling water on every floor.
“They also delivered the houses with no concrete platform for the house foundations, just earth and gravel, which produces mold and attracts insects and other vermin because of the humidity,” said Arias, adding that at the emergency exit at the roof, instead of a door with an alarm and a panic bar, “what they put up there is a wooden bulkhead glued in with tar, impossible to open.”
Maritza Hernández, of 994, complained that the houses were built with low-quality construction materials, pointing out that even the towel rods have fallen off and that the walls won’t hold a nail.
State Senator Rubén Díaz (D-Bronx) said that cases where members of minorities, especially Latinos and African Americans, buy houses that begin falling apart in a year come up repeatedly in his district. “And since the sellers procrastinate to let the guarantee run out, they never come to fix the problems, and the owners have to invest large amounts to be able to get the repairs done,” said Sen. Díaz.
Díaz wrote a letter to New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, asking that he investigate any negligence committed during construction of these houses, in violation of local, state and federal regulations.
Blanca Estepa, of 1216 Bryant Street, said that when they call Tri Plus Construction, the contractor sends them to someone named Mike. They show Mike all the problems in their houses, “but he hasn't done any repairs yet.”
The homeowners' guarantees run out between June and July of this year, and they are hoping the contractor does the repairs before that date. Calls to Tri Plus Construction and to Mike were not returned by press time.
