NY expands deed theft prevention program in Southeast Queens

New York Attorney General Letitia Jamessaid the state would increase funding to a program designed to prevent deed theft in Southeast Queens. Eagle file photo by Rob Abruzzese

By Rachel Vick

New York state will expand a program intended to help Southeast Queens homeowners avoid deed theft and other housing schemes, New York Attorney General Letitia James said Friday.

James said her office would increase funding to the Protect Our Homes initiative by $800,000 to specifically identify homeowners vulnerable to scams and provide targeted support in Southeast Queens and parts of the Bronx and Brooklyn. The city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development and the Center for New York City Neighborhoods participate in the theft prevention program, which began in January 2020.

“COVID-19 has exposed and expanded the economic pressures New Yorkers were already under, and homeowners in gentrified areas throughout New York City continue to be targeted in schemes designed to steal their homes,” James said. “Deed theft is a crime that threatens to rip away homeownership and perpetuates a terrible cycle of displacement.”  

The funding will also go toward increasing an information campaign and expanding the Homeowner Help Desk, a program staffed by nonprofit housing experts,

Additional funding for the program “is a much-needed boost to keep low- to moderate-income residents in their homes,” said Southeast Queens Councilmember Adrienne Adams. “Committing ourselves to protecting and preserving homeownership in our city’s Black and brown communities is critical.”

Deed thieves often target elderly Queens residents, particularly people of color, and the crime is relatively common in high-demand areas, like parts of Queens and Brooklyn. 

In 2018, for example, a Jamaica man was charged with attempting to swindle a 101-year-old neighborhood out of his 143rd Street home. 

 As of July 2017, the U.S. Census estimates that there were roughly 353,787 Queens residents over 65, or 15 percent of the population.