NJ Elected Officials Find 'Worst Conditions' At Recently Inspected Newark Boarding Home
NEWARK, N.J. (CBSNewYork) - Just days after a state inspection of a Newark boarding home, two New Jersey officials stopped by on a tip and found a slew of violations and unsafe living conditions.
As WCBS 880's Levon Putney reported, State Sen. Richard Codey and Newark Mayor Luis Quintana made a surprise visit Thursday to a Third Avenue boarding home and found rodents, the smell of urine and prescription pills laying out.
NJ Elected Officials Find 'Worst Conditions' At Recently Inspected Newark Boarding Home
"It was bad. I mean, they had five beds in a room that was one-and-a-half times the size of a jail cell," Codey said. "The kitchen was unsanitary, cats all over the place."
As a result of the visit, the home was shut down by city inspectors on a number of code and fire violations. Codey and Quintana made their visit just days after state inspectors were there and reported they found no issues.
"No violations! Ray Charles would've found them!" said Codey. "Give me a break. That's a disgrace."
"This was the worst condition I've ever seen in anything," Quintana told Putney. "My question is to them, how do you allow this?"
Quintana said he'll be raiding the city's 13 or so other boarding homes for the homeless and mentally ill starting next week.
"Oh, we're gonna go everywhere. We're not telling where we're going," he told Putney.
Codey said he plans to look into how state inspectors gave the OK on the facility.
"There should be crime scene tape around here. A crime was committed here on these people," said Codey.
He said he's hoping prosecutors will look at charging the home's owner.
The tenants are being housed elsewhere.
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