Oyster Bay weighs law to enforce illegal rentals at assisted living facilities

The Town of Oyster Bay is eyeing a move to tighten restrictions for assisted living facilities after officials discovered a property was advertising units as apartment rentals.

Michael Montesano, special counsel to the town attorney's office, presented a proposal to amend the town’s zoning code during a recent board meeting. The proposed code states assisted living facilities operating in the town are not allowed to rent units for independent living, unless there is a specific certification.

The change, he said, would clarify language in the law and give the town a mechanism to enforce violations. 

The proposed amendment was prompted by the discovery of a facility inappropriately advertising its units for rent, Montesano said.

“We’ve had a very large assisted living operation here in the town, and we found they were advertising assisted living units as regular apartment units,” Montesano said at the Dec. 9 hearing. The board left public comment open for 21 days.

That advertisement “violates the terms of their state operating certificate and the permits issued by the Town of Oyster Bay,” he said.

Oyster Bay spokesman Brian Nevin said the facility was contacted and ultimately changed its “poorly worded advertisement.” He did not specify which facility made the advertisement. Asked what the advertisement said, Nevin said the town did not maintain a copy of it.

Town officials said the change would close a legal loophole that limited Oyster Bay’s options for enforcing violations of state rules. 

“This cleans up the language of the statute so the town can enforce it,” Montesano said.

Occupancy in assisted living facilities in Oyster Bay is restricted to people 62 and older. Couples can qualify, so long as one person is 62 or older and “has difficulties with one or more essential activities of daily living ...” according to the town code.

Monica Pomeroy, a state Health Department spokeswoman, said in an email that “no operator may represent the Adult Care Facility by any designation other than that referenced on its operating certificate issued by the Department of Health.”

There are 103 adult care facilities under the state Health Department’s Long Island region office, according to the agency’s website.

“Adult care facilities are bound by the statutory and regulatory framework that govern their operating certificate, or license, to operate an approved adult care facility licensed by the Department of Health,” Pomeroy said.

Michael Balboni, executive director of the Greater New York Health Care Facilities Association, said assisted living facilities fall within the “care continuum,” where patients often shuffle from a hospital, to a nursing home and then to an assisted living facility as they recover.

Patients can also move along that continuum in the opposite direction, he said. Medicare and Medicaid then reimburse the facilities at each step, according to Balboni. 

“Facilities are built for patient days,” Balboni said. “The intent behind the entire law and the funding is to assist patients from a medical perspective. So, if you have somebody who’s just living there — that’s a residential facility and that’s not appropriate.”

By Joseph Ostapiuk

joseph.ostapiuk@newsday.com@OstapiukJ