by Gregory Anderson
For many years, Bridge Street Development Corporation has conducted outreach to property owners on the NYC tax lien sale list in an effort to preserve homeownership by the residents of our community. And for many years, as a direct result of the tax lien sale, the rate of homeownership by Black and Brown people in our community has continued to decline. Bridge Street Development strongly believes that the 2021 Tax lien sale should be cancelled.
The New York City Departments of Finance (DOF) has annually held a tax lien sale, where the tax liens on properties with debt to the City in the form of unpaid property taxes and water bills are sold to a Trust. The Trust pays the City upfront for the debt and hires a private collector who has the authority to collect the money that was previously owed to the City, plus other fees and interest. This can result in foreclosure and the loss of property by homeowners.
Although the 2020 tax lien sale was cancelled due to the COVID-19 crisis, DOF has scheduled a lien sale on December 17, 2021. Of the 4,519 Brooklyn properties on the initial 2021 lien sale list, 866 addresses or 19% are in City Council Districts 36 and 41. These numbers speak to the disproportionate negative impact that the tax lien sale has had on Black and Brown communities.
Despite required DOF notification to property owners and outreach efforts by organizations like Bridge Street, many homeowners do not become aware that their property is on the tax lien sale list until after the lien sale has occurred. The most effective way to 1) find out if your property is on the tax lien sale list, and 2) have your property removed from the lien sale, is to go online to www.nyc.gov/liensale and file for a COVID-19 Hardship Declaration. If your property is not on the tax lien sale list, there is nothing more to do. If your property is on the list, filing the hardship declaration and requesting information about payment plans, will remove your property from the lien sale.
The lien sale has served as motivation and incentive for deed theft and scammers that have preyed on our community, particularly elderly homeowners. In the outreach to property owners on the lien sale list it has become clear that predatory investors have already positioned themselves to initiate foreclosure, become vulture buyers and circumvent the rightful transfer of property to family members. The lien sale has become a magnet for fraud because while the City is focused on recouping an average lien of $15,000, the scammers are focused on the value of our property, which is likely to average in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
As the lien sale has historically had a disproportionately adverse effect on Black and Hispanic homeowners, this lien sale, in the midst of a pandemic, will have a devastating impact in the communities that have been hardest hit economically by COVID-19. At a time when the Administration and Council have implemented several programs and actions to address the racial income and wealth gap, the City of New York should not continue a fiscal and financial practice that only intensifies the wealth gap. The tax lien sale should be cancelled.
About Bridge Street Development Corporation
Bridge Street Development Corporation is a non-profit organization with a mission to provide civic and economic opportunities to the residents of Central Brooklyn, with an emphasis on low-to-moderate income residents, by building partnerships with businesses, government, and other community stakeholders. For more information about Bridge Street Development Corporation, visit www.bsdcorp.org and follow us on Facebook and Twitter. You can support our work through the #Brooklyn Gives 2021 Campaign at https://www.brooklyngives.org/organizations/bridge-street-development-corp.
Gregory Anderson
President & CEO
Bridge Street Development Corporation
460 Nostrand Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11216
T (718) 399-0146 x113