Boarding house demolition - Union St

[just watching]

I noticed on Wednesday 3/20 that one of the city's biggest and oldest boarding houses was just demolished. Not sure what day, but very recently.  It was located on Union Street directly across from city hall. I think this is GREAT NEWS.  We lost another one !!! This is a substantial positive change for the neighborhood.  There will be less transient people wandering around in the downtown, littering and panhandling, and detracting from the business climate.  And that's one less big old boarding house that might burn down, presenting a risk to fire-fighters.

Note also that there are now two vacant lots, side-by-side, and I'm not sure if the small office building along the railroad is empty or not. There was a Jewish social service organization there, forgot their name.  I wonder what is happening with the vacant lots.  If anyone knows, please post.

The boarding houses are a big part of what brings in a transient population to Hackensack. Many eventually become homeless, and once they do, they are counted as "Hackensack residents" in the eyes of the social service organizations and their advocates.  Instead of the city being credited and praised for having three times more units in the form of boarding houses than the rest of Bergen County combined, in the late 1980's and 1990's the boarding houses effectively become liabilities used to document that the city should provide more beds at homeless shelters, more soup kitchens, more new shelters of all kinds, etc.  It was exactly backwards way of looking at the housing needs for poor single people in Bergen County. Well, we lost another big boarding house, and it appeared to have been either the biggest or the second-biggest left, so there will be less "Hackensack residents" becoming homeless in the future.

Boarding houses really detract from any neighborhood. "Exhibit A" for that claim is 211 Passaic Street. Now that it is gone thanks to a fire about 8 years ago, the area is much-improved. It is quiet, it is safe, and the neighbors are happy. Take a look at 209 Passaic St.  It's been completely rehabilitated and it looks gorgeous. Those owners would have never done that with a 30-unit boarding house next door.

I also noticed the demolition of an old multi-family house on Railroad Place mid-way between Central Ave and High Street. It was an average-sized house that was subdivided generations ago into at least 5 or 6 very low-end apartments.  It had ugly black fire escapes dangling everywhere, and it was rumored to be a de facto half-way house.  This may have been demolished some time ago, I just happened to see it.  Also a positive demolition. The lot is too narrow for a new house, but I would support a variance to put a single-family house there.

[irons35]

the house on Railroad Place had a fire about 4-5 years ago and was torn down.  there were only 2 apartments in it, up and down and it was not a halfway house.

[regina]

The lot is too narrow for a new house, but I would support a variance to put a single-family house there.

Did you move back to Hackensack? Your support means nothing if you have not.

There is a boarding house on Parker Avenue. I bet you could not pick it out from the rest of the houses. To generalize all boarding houses as being responsible for transients, litter, panhandling is narrow minded. The bus terminal and homeless shelter (forget what fancy name they call it now - transitional housing?) are responsible for more of those issues than any boarding house.

[just watching]

For the most part, it's the same class of people in the urban boarding houses and homeless shelters, they go back and forth between the shelters and the boarding houses. It's all the same problem, and they should be viewed in that light.  When the shelters say they successfully "placed" their clients into housing, usually they are talking about boarding houses.  Once in a while, it's a junior one-bedroom apartment.

Are there a couple boarding houses that are better run, yes.  They are not all set up the same way.  Some are just a few bedrooms, with people sharing a large clean kitchen, a dining area, and a living room. That's half-way livable. The really horrendous ones (i.e. the former 211 Passaic St) there are dozens of rooms, and each person is on their own for for food every day. No kitchen. There are rampant with drug and alcohol problems, and sometimes prostitution.  There's two on Euclid Ave, across the street from each other at the railroad crossing, and for some reason there are less problems in those two than in the city's most urban areas. Never been inside and don't know how they are set up.

I was unaware of the one on Parker Ave, perhaps it is one of the better run facilities, with common areas and not too many rooms. I saw a list of the city's boarding houses 10 years ago that the police supplied me, and Parker Ave wasn't on the list.  I's a shock to hear about a boarding house on a stellar suburban street. Can Regina supply an address and that way someone can check with the building department and see if it is legal.  Thank you.

[just watching]

Oh, the house on Railroad Place.  It had at least 4 mailboxes, maybe 5. Perhaps it was on the books as a 2-family, unsure about that.

[just watching]

I was thinking that the City of Hackensack should buy these 2 large vacant lots on Union Street directly across from City Hall, and possibly the one house left on that block. That would be a great place for the city to make some parking for city employees. And then the City can sell of the parking lot on the NW corner of State and Central Ave, for some big development.  Perhaps a 10 or 12-story apartment building, to be part of the whole movement to redevelop State and Main Streets. All the same arguments apply at State & Central as they do for the proposed building at State and Warren Streets, which is next to the new Cultural Arts Center.

I also think it would really complete that block, with big multi-unit buildings on both corners, and in the middle is the church and the two social service houses. A special effort could be made to make something that would look good architecturally next to the Christ Episcopal Church.

I think the city should look into this.  It also might make good dollars and cents. I bet the cost of buying those lots on Union Street would be less than what they would get by selling off the existing parking lot at State & Central. This is especially true if the City had an approved site plan for a large building.