Suffolk County

East Boston garage illegally turned into two-bedroom apartment with 19 occupants

BOSTON, Mass. — The inside of the garage at 37 Geneva St in East Boston was turned into a 2-bedroom apartment. Boston’s inspectional services department says it served as a flophouse for 19 flight attendants looking for a place to sleep.

The living conditions were less than ideal. The city’s pictures from inside show bunk beds tightly packed, paint cans stacked up, and other hazardous materials laying around. Inspectional services says each person living here was paying about $300 a month.

It was one of the airline attendants who called the fire department about the fire panel, and that’s when the city learned about the illegal apartment.

Boston 25 News talked to a woman who lives in the neighborhood and said she’s noticed people coming and going from that building for a while.

“There’s a lot of people that want to live here real quick or just come and go since the airport is around here, and the rent is expensive too, so they probably have to find a way real quick,” said Carol Chavez of East Boston.

There were several violations inside there, including no working smoke detectors. Inspectional services says they are asking the landlord if they want to have an apartment here to get a secure a permit legally.

The permitting process for the city can be found here.

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