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Stop the Squeeze on NYC Homeowners
Nearly a third of New Yorkers own the place they call home. Yet, while purchasing a home
is a dream for many New Yorkers, mounting costs squeeze homeowners across the city.
Twenty-five percent of all NYC homeowners spend more than half their income on
housing costs, placing many of those families behind on payments. That’s a burden felt
most acutely in our city’s immigrant communities and Black and Latino neighborhoods,
where foreclosure rates are highest, homeowners are behind on bills, and the city is
hanging them out to dry.
Prior to becoming an Assemblymember, Zohran worked directly with these New Yorkers
to keep them in their homes, serving as a Foreclosure Prevention Housing Counselor at
Chhaya CDC. He knows how the city’s property tax system favors wealthier homeowners
in gentrifying neighborhoods, has seen how the tax lien sale system leads to families
losing their homes, recognizes how deed theft is displacing entire communities, and
understands how the city lets speculators and slumlords box working class New Yorkers
out of homes. And he has a plan to fix it as Mayor.
The Mamdani administration will:
● Create the Office of Deed Theft Prevention
● Fix the property tax system
● Help co-op and condo owners comply with Local Law 97
● End the tax lien sale
● Pass COPA to give CLTs and non-profits the right of first refusal when landlords
sell
● Support co-ops and CLTs
● Create more first-time homeowners
Create the Office of Deed Theft Prevention
White collar criminals are stealing homes from families who have lived in New York for
decades. As Wall Street money floods rapidly gentrifying neighborhoods of New York,
scammers are using every trick in the book to separate homeowners —especially seniors,
immigrants, and Black New Yorkers—from their homes. Since 2014, there have been
approximately 3,500 complaints of deed theft in NYC, primarily in Brooklyn and Queens,
robbing working class homeowners and their families of equity, housing stability, and
peace of mind. While the state legislature gave officials more power to intervene in deed
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theft cases in 2023, homeowners remain vulnerable, and deed thieves have plenty of
incentive to operate.
The Mamdani administration will protect homeowners against these scam artists by
creating the Office of Deed Theft Prevention. The Office, equipped with roughly $10
million in funding, will coordinate all city enforcement mechanisms to stop deed theft in
progress while conducting outreach across all five boroughs to prevent deed theft and
support homeowners, focusing on neighborhoods where deed theft is especially rampant.
This new office will utilize the 2023 state laws, which allow a local government agency to
investigate deed theft cases. Once that investigation is underway, the office can file a
motion to stay an eviction or foreclosure proceeding, at which point the courts are legally
required to halt it. The Mamdani administration’s Office of Deed Theft Prevention will hire
investigators, forensic accountants, and attorneys to stand up for families who are the
target of fraud.
The Office’s staff will report the findings of these investigations to the court, and will also
refer appropriate cases to the district attorney and Attorney General’s office to pursue
justice. The new office will also conduct analyses of the state of deed theft across the
city, and make recommendations for appropriate legislation and enforcement remedies.
The Office of Deed Theft Prevention will also hire outreach staff to lead a public campaign
to prevent deed theft. Outreach workers will help homeowners to sign up for ACRIS alerts
that notify them of changes to the deed or property. They will also work with the Mayor’s
Public Engagement Unit and the Department of Aging to conduct robust outreach to reach
homeowners in the places they convene — like churches and block associations. The
Office will also fund partners like Center for NYC Neighborhoods’ Homeowner Helpdesk
and Black Homeownership Project, which provide estate planning services for Black New
Yorkers.
Along with the efforts of The Office of Deed Theft Prevention, the Mamdani administration
will work with state partners to pass legislation that empowers victims. The administration
will push for a one-year suspension on the statute of limitations for deed theft cases,
allowing the victims of deed theft to seek justice in the wave of cases that followed the
financial crash of 2008. And it will advocate for victims’ rights to sue the person or
corporation that stole their deed through “unfair or deceptive practices,” rather than the
much higher standard that currently exists. Victims would be able to receive fair
compensation through these actions, including increased damages and attorneys’ fees.
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Create a Tangled Title Fund
The Mamdani administration will also work to relieve the stress of tangled titles, which
happens when someone lives in a home they believe to be theirs but their name is
actually not on the deed. This commonly happens when a loved one dies and a relative
inherits a property, but their name never makes it onto official records. Such situations
can throw a house into probate and leave a family’s right to the home they rightfully own
in legal limbo. Predominantly Black neighborhoods have higher rates of tangled titles
than white neighborhoods.
The Mamdani administration will create a $10 million Tangled Title Fund, modeled
after the successful program in Philadelphia that provides homeowners with grants to
work with attorneys who can clear the title of their home and allow them to properly
plan their estate and claim all the benefits of homeownership.
Fix the Property Tax System
Why does the City tax family homes in Black and Latino neighborhoods like Jamaica,
Brownsville, and Tremont more than it does in wealthier neighborhoods of the city? Why
are luxury condos and co-ops significantly underpaying taxes while moderately priced
condos and coops foot the bill? The answer lies in our arcane property system, which
generates 45 percent of the City’s tax revenue but is inequitable and inconsistent.
The city’s wealthiest pockets pay just a fraction of their just tax bill because assessed
values are artificially capped to stay low while actual market values soar. That means
neighborhoods where the cost of home ownership has skyrocketed, and only the richest
New Yorkers can afford to buy, pay a relative pittance in taxes. Their lower rates are made
up by climbing taxes in other parts of the city. Condos and coops owners also face
significant inequities. Due to a state law passed in 1981, condos and co-ops are valued
according to whatever the Department of Finance determines are comparable rentals, a
comparison that heavily favors luxury and super-luxury apartments. Take for example,
220 Central Park South, the most expensive home ever sold in the United States, which
the Department valued at $9.4 million despite its staggering $228 million sale price.
Taxing this property at its market value would raise $3 million per year alone.
The Mamdani administration will address this deeply inequitable system, using the full
power of the mayor’s office to both address the system directly and working with
legislators at the state level to win necessary reforms. In the long term, these changes
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will include implementing much of the New York City Advisory Commission on Property
Tax Reform’s 2021 recommendations which are comprehensive. However, shorter term,
immediate relief is necessary. The administration will:
● Shift the tax burden from overtaxed homeowners in the outer boroughs to more
expensive homes in richer and whiter neighborhoods: The property tax system is
unbalanced because assessment levels are artificially capped, so homeowners in
expensive neighborhoods pay less than their fair share. The Mayor can fix this by
pushing class assessment percentages down for everyone and adjusting rates up,
effectively lowering tax payments for homeowners in neighborhoods like Jamaica
and Brownsville while raising the amount paid in the most expensive Brooklyn
brownstones.
● Advocate for the inclusion of "circuit breakers" to ensure that low- and
moderate-income homeowners, like many of our seniors living in gentrifying
neighborhoods, are not cost-burdened by the changes.
● Stop treating co-ops and condos as if they were rentals: The Mamdani
administration will work with state lawmakers to abolish Real Property Tax Law
Section 581 which compares condos and coops to rental properties and creates
arbitrary and inequitable tax burdens on moderate and low income owners.
Help Homeowners Comply with Local Law 97
Local Law 97 (LL97) was a historic win for climate justice, requiring buildings to reduce
greenhouse emissions 40 percent by 2030 and 80 percent by 2050. Implementation to
date has been sorely lacking, however, with little support for homeowners who cannot
afford the improvements necessary to comply with the law and weak enforcement
towards the large landlords and developers who can afford improvements but ignore the
requirements.
It can be especially hard for market-rate cooperatives to comply with the full scope of
LL97. These are New Yorkers who own homes but can be cost-burdened, who pay
disproportionately high taxes, and whose fines often end up sold as debt to private equity
for exploitation. Many large co-ops are also Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities,
making it even more difficult for buildings to meet their targets – even though these
homeowners may especially desire the comfort and safety provided by electrification.
The lack of sufficient support leaves homeowners to choose between expensive
renovations or fines, all while failing to deliver on the important climate objectives of LL97.
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In addition to exploring opportunities for city and state building retrofit subsidies, the
Mamdani administration will help homeowners modernize their buildings and meet the
ambition of LL97 by:
● Extending J-51 Tax Breaks: Last year, the city authorized a significantly improved
J-51 tax break that allows eligible owners to deduct up to 70 percent of
improvement costs from property tax expenses over 20 years. The credit can and
should be used to support homeowners working to comply with LL97. However,
J-51 is set to expire at the end of next year. The Mamdani administration will work
with Albany lawmakers to extend the break until 2035 in order to pay for many of
the retrofits and improvements LL97 requires.
● Reducing J-51 application fees: The J-51 application costs $85 per unit. That
might not sound like much, but at scale, it can significantly diminish the value of
the abatement. The Penn South complex, for instance, has over 2,800 units, and
even a successful J-51 application would cost over $230,000. The Mamdani
administration will reduce this application fee.
● Increase support for homeowners to comply with LL97, and create a one-stop
shop for LL97 compliance: While big buildings run by the city’s richest landlords
have staff to navigate LL97 requirements, buildings run by volunteer co-op boards
need support to meet LL97’s important goals. The City rolled out the NYC
Accelerator to support LL97 compliance and help homeowners and boards identify
and make the improvements necessary to reduce energy emissions. The idea is
smart, but the execution is lacking; in practice the Accelerator is understaffed and
underfunded.
The Mamdani administration will increase investment in the Accelerator to turn it
into a true one-stop shop for LL97 compliance needs. That includes providing 1:1
support for homeowners, supporting energy audits, helping submit J-51
applications, and leveraging economies of scale to bring costs down. For instance,
it’s cheaper for the Accelerator to buy 10,000 heat pumps and sell them to New
Yorkers at cost than it is for 10,000 households to buy that same heat pump at
retail prices. Beyond these efficiencies, the Mamdani administration will also
explore ways to offer financing avenues through the Accelerator for New Yorkers
working to meet 2030 emissions requirements.
Use new tech to reduce emissions and unlock tax credits
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The New York City Housing Authority ran a pilot to swap steam radiators for
eco-friendly, electric heat pumps. The pumps, developed based on an RFP by NYCHA,
drew universal praise as more comfortable and effective in the pilot. Best of all: the pilot
program in Woodside Houses cut electrification costs in half and reduced energy usage
by more than 87 percent, all while also providing air conditioning.
The Mamdani administration will work with the Accelerator to steer homeowners to
solutions like these heat pumps that are affordable, effective, and unlock tax credits. It
will also work to leverage new technology to identify other pathways to LL97
compliance.
End the Tax Lien Sale
If a homeowner falls behind on property taxes in the five boroughs, our City sells this debt
to a trust of private investors for about 70 cents on the dollar, who then flip that debt to
other investors. The investors balloon the debt owed by an average of 65 percent after
purchasing it. They get rich on the backs of small homeowners behind on their bills. Too
often, after they’ve extracted as much as possible, they’ll move to foreclose, pushing
families out of their homes.
If that sounds like a system cooked up by Trump cronies, you’d be right: the tax lien sale
is a relic of the Giuliani-era that has been a blight on our city for decades. Between 2017
and 2021, there were over 7,000 small homes that had their property tax debts sold in the
lien sale. New York City is the only large city in the country that sells bonded liens to an
investor-backed trust financed by Wall Street — privatizing the collection of municipal tax
debt, a core government function. It’s past time to change that.
The Tax Lien Sale Scheme’s Racism
The tax lien sale has been particularly harmful to Black, brown, and working-class
homeowners, leading many homeowners to lose their home to foreclosure, or forcing
them to sell below market value in order to pay off their accumulating debts. The City is
six times more likely to sell a tax lien in a Black neighborhood than a white
neighborhood. This policy is extracting wealth from Black, brown, and working class
communities and stripping New Yorkers of their homes.
