New 'Help Desk' To Protect Central Brooklyn From Housing Scams

BROOKLYN, NY — A new "help desk" partially inspired by Bed-Stuy neighbors worried about being displaced from their homes will launch this spring, the city announced.

The city's Department of Housing Preservation and Development and Center for NYC Neighborhoods said Thursday that they will expand a Homeowners Help Desk to Central Brooklyn, Southeast Queens and North Bronx, three areas that are prone to displacement.

The help desk will connect struggling homeowners with counseling, financial assistance, legal services and raise awareness about deed theft and scams, which disproportionately impact homeowners in those neighborhoods, the city said.

“This administration takes the threat of deed theft and scams seriously, and we want to make sure struggling homeowners get the help they need to keep their homes, maintain safe, quality housing, and build equity that can be passed on to the next generation," said HPD Commissioner Louise Carroll. “Especially in light of the economic effects of COVID-19, we are glad to work with the Center and so many others to actively reach out to vulnerable homeowners.”

The department pointed to redlining, discriminatory disinvestment, predatory real estate development, gentrification and the recent burden of the coronavirus crisis that have disproportionately impacted the predominantly Black and Latinx neighborhoods.

The expanded help desk will be funded by Enterprise Community Partners and the New York State Attorney General Letitia James' office.

City officials said the initiative was prompted in part by homeowners who were interviewed when he department was creating its Bedford-Stuyvesant Housing Initiative, a sweeping housing plan unveiled late last year for the neighborhood.

"During these conversations, homeowners emphasized the need for the type of one-on-one support that the Help Desk provides, prompting the Center and HPD to seek funding for an expanded Help Desk through the Anti-Displacement Learning Network," they said.

Bed-Stuy ranks within the top ten for city council districts with the most complaints of deed theft across New York City and rates of foreclosure in the neighborhood are more than double of those of Brooklyn and the city during the subprime mortgage crisis.

The Help Desk will officially launch in Spring of 2021. Interested homeowners can learn more by calling the CNYCN hotline at 1-855-HOME-456.