New York City is taking action in the ongoing housing crisis, with City Council laying out a plan that could lead to the construction of thousands of new apartments, and the mayor announcing a new plan to fight an issue some have called an “epidemic” in the city: deed theft.
Two days after his arrest in Brooklyn for protesting what he thought was a case of deed theft, City Councilmember Chi Ossé stood just blocks from where the arrest happened to join Mayor Zohran Mamdani for the announcement of the new Office of Deed Theft Prevention.
“This is both an issue where action has been taken but there is so much more to be done,” Mamdani said.
The man in charge of the office will be Peter White, who spent years as an attorney helping homeowners fight foreclosure.
“My fundamental goal is to make life better for homeowners,” said White.
The initial annual budget for the new office: $1 million.
While the homeowner at the center of Wednesday’s protest is in a more complicated legal dispute about her property — New York Attorney General Letitia James said it “originated from deed theft,” but after an analysis by her office, it was determined to not be something the state has jurisdiction to fight — the root of the issue remained: scammers trying to seize valuable property from rightful owners.
The incident spotlights the city’s ongoing housing crisis, as apartments remain incredibly scarce throughout the five boroughs. On that front, City Council Speaker Julie Menin announced a new plan to identify thousands of tiny properties where housing could be built. The goal is to create incentives so the landlord will want to build.
As the laws are currently, there are many slivers of properties between buildings where it’s too expensive to develop, so the lot remains empty. Menin said that with the right formula, tens of thousands of apartments could be built.
“We need to reform the construction code and make it financeable. Many of them are not financeable, which is why they’ve been left barren,” Menin said Friday.
Menin said City Council has formed a special advisory committee with architects and engineers in the loop to try and get new housing built as fast as possible.