Basement Apartments Safe for Everyone

The BASE (Basement Apartments Safe for Everyone) campaign brings together community organizations, advocates, tenants, and homeowners to advance safe, legal, and affordable basement and cellar apartments in New York City. Rooted in working-class neighborhoods and communities of color, we organize for housing policies that protect tenants, support small homeowners, and recognize the essential role these homes play in our communities.

Years of organizing have helped win changes to state law, city zoning, and building codes that create new opportunities for basement legalization. But turning these victories into safer homes requires an accessible, affordable program that residents can actually use.

The basement and cellar legalization pilot remains limited to 15 community districts. Delays in implementation, costly conversion requirements, and gaps in financing and technical assistance threaten to leave many tenants and small homeowners behind. Repeated flooding makes the need for action urgent.

BASE is working to get the pilot launched with practical safety standards, dedicated funding, and coordinated support from city agencies and trusted community organizations. We are also advocating to expand the pilot’s geography, extend its timeline, and strengthen protections so tenants can remain housed and return to their homes after necessary renovations.

We envision a city where basement tenants have safe, stable homes and small homeowners can afford the improvements needed to provide them. Legalization must advance safety and affordability while preventing displacement.

Our priorities include financial and technical assistance for low- and moderate-income homeowners, meaningful tenant protections, support for temporary relocation when needed, and enforcement of tenants’ right to return. Residents must have a voice in how the program is designed and carried out.

Basement apartments are already part of New York City’s housing fabric. With public investment and policies shaped by community needs, they can become a safer, more secure source of affordable housing.

For more information about the BASE campaign or to get involved, contact Chhaya at info@chhayacdc.org.