Brooklyn Pols to Hold Hearing on City’s Homeownership Crisis

In response to the spike of homeowners losing their property and equity, Brooklyn Borough President Eric L. Adams, State Senator Velmanette Montgomery and Assemblymember Tremaine Wright will be holding a joint hearing on Friday, March 15, to examine the city’s homeownership housing crisis.

The hearing, which will take place from 2:00pm to 6:00pm at Brooklyn Borough Hall, will focus on wrongful property seizures and the practices that have put homeowners and families in jeopardy, including deed and equity theft, municipal liens, predatory foreclosures, redlining, reverse mortgages and the city’s controversial Third Party Transfer program.

“We must vigilantly and comprehensively tackle the growing emergency facing Black and Latino property owners in our city, who appear to be systematically targeted by efforts to wrongful seize homes and put families at an economic disadvantage,” said Adams. “Government is playing catch-up to the fraudulent schemes of bad actors who want to gentrify neighborhoods, and it’s time to get back on offense.”

“The increasing lack of affordability is hitting homeowners of color especially hard and they often do not know who to turn to,” said Montgomery. “At the same time, we are fighting just to maintain resources to battle foreclosure. This fact-finding hearing will allow us to learn more about ways in which homeowners are in constant danger of losing their homes beyond missing a mortgage payment, and how we can work towards solutions.”

To read the full story, visit https://www.bkreader.com/2019/03/08/brooklyn-pols-to-hold-hearing-on-citys-homeownership-crisis/