The arrest of Councilmember Chi Ossé and other supporters of longtime Bedford-Stuyvesant resident Carmella Charrington during an eviction attempt at 212 Jefferson Avenue on April 22 led to an important change: On April 24, Mayor Zohran Mamdani created the Mayor’s Office of Deed Theft Prevention and appointed Peter White, a homeowner-assistance attorney from Access Justice Brooklyn, as its first director. The new unit is designed to flag suspicious property filings and connect homeowners with assistance
Two highly publicized confrontations at the Jefferson Avenue house turned the court battle over this property into a referendum about what the city is doing to protect Black homeowners from deed theft and displacement.
However, Charrington, who says her family’s 60-year stake in the house has been hijacked through an out-of-state conservatorship, remains in legal limbo. She’s still looking over her shoulder, expecting enforcement forces to return to her property.
Charrington told the Amsterdam News that “… for some reason, they did not want me there” at the mayor’s official announcement about launching the Office of Deed Theft Prevention. “I think they felt like it would have taken away from what they’re trying to do … they wanted it to be like, ‘Look, we’re trying to change something.’”
City Hall said the new office, housed in the Department of Finance, will focus on identifying suspicious filings, preventing deed fraud through outreach and education, and helping victims pursue “correction and remediation.” Mamdani also announced a six-month pause on the city’s tax lien sale. The mayor thanked, among others, Attorney General Letitia James, Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez, and anti-deed theft advocate Evangeline Byars of the People’s Coalition to Stop Deed Theft for their past work on deed theft cases.
In an exclusive interview with the Amsterdam News, Charrington said no one from the new office has contacted her yet, and she suspected City Hall wanted to keep the spotlight off her ongoing fight at 212 Jefferson. The city acknowledges the growing crisis, but Charrington argues that officials are categorizing her case as a “private family dispute” to avoid the political mess of a contested deed involving an out-of-state conservatorship.
“This is exactly a deed theft case,” Charrington insisted. “[Attorney General Letitia James] knows it. … She said it emanated from a deed theft and then on CBS …, she [said], ‘Oh, no, this is not a deed theft case.’ We have to put the pressure on her and show she’s a liar.”
Charrington’s father, Allman, who is in his 80s, remains under a Georgia conservatorship. The next court date regarding the guardianship for her father is set for May 7. She said marshals recently went to her sister’s house looking for her father, believing he was there, but did not find him.
Carmella claimed the Georgia conservatorship is being used to erase her family’s property rights. She questioned how a judge could authorize the sale of their home without her family’s consent or presence.
“What they want to do is take him back to Georgia … so they don’t have to talk about the properties,” she said of her father. “Who authorized the sale? A conservator can’t do it by herself. The only person who can authorize it is a judge. What judge authorized her to sell the property?”
While she awaits her next court date, Charrington and her neighbors are keeping an around-the-clock watch at 212 Jefferson. They say the mayor’s new Office of Deed Theft Prevention is only a gesture if it’s not taking on the cases of the people who are standing on their stoops, refusing to be displaced.
“If you were at the mayor’s meeting and you talked about fighting deed theft,” Charrington said, “nobody should ever be at my door like that.”
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