Stamford public meeting addresses illegal rentals

Stamford lawmakers held a public meeting Wednesday night to address illegal apartment rentals in the community. 
The meeting, organized by Matthew Quinones and Steven Kolenberg from the Stamford Board of Representatives, was intended to spark a community conversation about illegal apartment rentals that they say often involve too many people living in a home zoned as "single-family."
About 30 people showed up for the meeting at Stamford's Ferguson Library. Many said they will be taking their complaints to Stamford's Zoning Board.
Resident Paul Longo says he hopes the meeting helps prompt change, especially at houses where the owner isn't anywhere to be found.
"We're talking about absentee owners who will take their house and rent it out to a dozen different tenants and have illegal apartments in the basement, in the attic and in bedrooms where they have actual exterior locks on the doors," says Longo. 
The organizers of the meeting invited speakers from the Stamford Police Department, zoning enforcement, the fire marshal's office and the Land Use Bureau.