A growing coalition, comprising Brooklyn homeowners, tenants, religious leaders, and legal experts, is forming to fight the deed theft epidemic that Black communities have been facing in the borough.
Evangeline Byars and members of the People’s Coalition to Stop Deed Theft are taking the lead in forming a new group that wants to create a task force that will be able to point to legal actions and provide intake forms for homeowners who need to report a case of deed theft.
Task forces are a common way for community members to create effective change. Governments may create their official frameworks, but grassroots community groups play a crucial role in forming and successfully operating task forces. They can bring together diverse perspectives from survivors, legal experts, mental health professionals, and community leaders.
Members of the homeowners group emphasize that relying solely on local authorities, including the district attorney’s office, has so far proven ineffective, so they are pushing for direct community action: “If we don’t take charge,” one group member said during a recent virtual organizing meeting, “nothing will get done.”
“Due to what happened at 168-70 Patchen Avenue, yes, the politicians are now moving on this,” Byars told the AmNews.
A near-eviction with police protection
On Nov. 12, a construction crew arrived at the home of Florence Lichmore-Smith at 168-170 Patchen Avenue in Brooklyn. In an incident that was recorded and widely shared on social media, NYPD officers from the 81st Precinct are seen standing guard outside the house. Officers are shown keeping Lichmore-Smith and her supporters on the sidewalk outside the house while a man named Shai Ohana and his workers are inside.
“This is not the owner! He is not the owner!” the crowd shouts at the officers. “You know better, your captain told you not to do this!” Lichmore-Smith’s near-eviction took place despite precinct orders that officers should not intervene in disputes at this location because the house was being contested in court.
In the recording, the real estate developer Shai Ohana is seen leaving the house.
Lichmore-Smith’s supporters say Ohana had shown fake Department of Buildings permits to the police and claimed that he now owned the property. While he and his crew were inside the house, they used sledgehammers and crowbars to rip out all the doors, and broke every toilet in the house. They also removed all the electrical meters and apparently damaged the water pipes. Lichmore-Smith was out front trying to prove to the police that she was the current owner and should be allowed back in.
After convincing the police officers that the construction crew had no right to be there, the police ordered the workers to leave. Lichmore-Smith regained access to her house and showed the extent of the damage inside. She plans to go to court to have the construction crew repair the damages they’ve caused, but in the meantime, the People’s Coalition to Stop Deed Theft is seeking donations at www.zeffy.com/en-US/donation-form/stop-deed-theft to help Lichmore-Smith cover costs until she can rebuild her home.
Police officers don’t take part in evictions
Because the police played a key role in keeping Lichmore-Smith out of her home, local politicians and advocates were outraged. Assemblymember Stefani L. Zinerman came by the house and toured the damage with Lichmore-Smith. “There is no DoB –– Department of Buildings from New York City –– sign on this door,” the assemblywoman noted as she walked to the house’s front entrance, “That means there’s no construction, there’s no demolition, there is no reconstruction allowed on this property because it has not been sanctioned by the office of or the Department of Buildings.”
The Assemblymember voiced concern about the damage done to the house and for Lichmore-Smith’s safety, since she has been getting harassed by developers for quite some time now. She pointed out that police should not be taking part in helping to evict anyone, in this case or any other. Police officers don’t take part in evictions; marshals are called in for that task.
Zinerman has even written a letter to the United Nations regarding the ongoing spate of deed thefts targeting Black elders. She is asking to have the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights document how entire neighborhoods are being destabilized. In a statement to the AmNews, the assemblymember said, “Petitioning the United Nations was never about symbolism — it was about naming the systematic targeting of Black elderly homeowners in Central Brooklyn for what it is: a human-rights crisis. …
“While the U.N. cannot intervene immediately, its framing strengthens the actions we are taking here at home. I have formally referred these cases to the New York City and New York State Commissions on Human Rights to pursue accountability and protections for our homeowners. And in Albany, I am advancing new legislation to ensure that deed-theft victims receive compensation and restitution — just as victims of any other crime do.”