Most cities do not sell their tax liens to a private trust. Many have programs which help homeowners pay off their debt and repair their neglected rental properties. Other cities also allow nonprofits to buy back the lien and then work out a payment plan with the property owner.
Lawmakers say the COVID-19 crisis and resulting unemployment makes this a time in which city homeowners may be particularly vulnerable to scams.
State and local lawmakers have called on the mayor to halt a planned September sale of property tax and water fee debt to collectors.
Worried homeowners endure long wait times when trying to access federal and state resources to avoid foreclosure. Then they learn the limits of those programs.
Some resources and clarifying information for residential and commercial tenants and homeowners.
Housing advocates have called on the city and state to develop a $10 billion relief package that includes a moratorium on rent, mortgage and utility payments
‘If won,’ the backers note, ‘this would be the only zone in all of Brooklyn, a borough rapidly undergoing gentrification.’
Advocates hoping to fend off aggressive investor interest think they might get a new defensive weapon: a cease-and-desist zone covering all of Brooklyn.
Affordable homeownership was an ingredient in the prescription that brought New York City back from the dead. Now, some experts say, it is homeownership that needs saving in New York.
‘The low- and middle-income communities in our city are bearing the brunt of the burden, essentially subsidizing the property taxes of our city’s most wealthy and affluent areas.’
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