The recent spotlight on deed theft in Black and Latino communities around the five boroughs is quickly becoming the defining housing issue in many local elections. A case in point is the 56th Assembly District race, where incumbent Assemblymember Stefani Zinerman is running for re-election against two main challengers.
Last month, Councilmember Chi Ossé and four other community members of the Stop Deed Theft Coalition were arrested and later released during protests about the ongoing case at 212 Jefferson Avenue in Bedford-Stuyvesant, which is presently in the middle of an ownership dispute involving district leader candidate Carmella Charrington. An emergency rally in front of her home called attention to the scourge of deed thieves in the neighborhood.
Shortly after the incident went viral online, Mayor Zohran Mamdami officially launched 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.
In addition to traditional deed theft, said Zinerman, issues with the city’s tax lien sale system and property taxes have led to homes being foreclosed on and auctioned; guardianship or heirs rights cases when a family member died without a will or trust for the house; and most notably, homeowners, especially the elderly, being petitioned or harassed into selling their homes. Zinerman has likened it to a “syndicate-level” plan to erase Black and Brown homeowners.
There have been numerous attempts to legislate against some of these various predatory practices, but bills, like the Good Cause Eviction bill in 2022, were hotly contested and often only succeeded in pitting tenants against landlords in ideological debates.
This is reflective of the long-standing grudge match between centrist “old school” Black Democrats and younger, more progressive Brooklynites who have moved into the community over time, a dynamic that continues to play out in the current 56th Assembly race.
Zinerman has two main challengers to her seat who are equally boisterous about deed theft. Progressive Eon Tyrell Huntley, who ran against the incumbent and narrowly lost in 2024 (52% to 47% of the votes), and housing lawyer Michael Bailey.
Zinerman, who once worked for former Councilmember Robert Cornegy, said she witnessed the early waves of gentrification transform even historic neighborhoods like Bed-Stuy and Crown Heights. In the 1990s and early 2000s, rents in the area were cheaper than Manhattan and downtown Brooklyn, with the added bonus of beautiful architecture. She said around that time, a degree of redlining kept Black people from buying homes, such as banks not lending to certain groups.
She appreciates the renewed sense of urgency this year from progressives in regard to deed theft and other housing issues affecting the district. “I’ve been ringing the bell on this for a while,” said Zinerman.
She has put forth a robust homeowners’ protection plan, including the Deed Theft Eviction Protection Act, which stops evictions while the title to a home is actively being challenged in court; the Homeowner Defense & Anti-Deed Theft Act, which creates a statewide legal defense program for victims of deed fraud; the Homeowners Fraud Protection & Property Alert Act, which establishes real-time property alerts for homeowners statewide; and the House New Yorkers First Act, which strengthens protections against predatory property buyers.
She has also called for a cease and desist zone to be established in Brooklyn to curb predatory real estate practices and has hosted clinics to encourage homeowners to create will or living trusts, or use websites like the Automated City Register Information System (ACRIS) to check on the status of their deeds.
Huntley said he’s been working on the ground with leaders of the Stop Deed Theft movement, as well as New York Communities for Change and the Working Families Party, which has endorsed his present campaign.
He has also joined forces with State Senator Jabari Brisport and Ossé in calling for a moratorium from the governor on sales and evictions that are tied to deed theft.
“I’m committed to supporting their bills once elected to the assembly… there’s such a big issue,” said Huntley. “We have an opportunity to have a lot more transparency when it comes to real estate and transactions, [but] we have politicians [who] don’t seem to care enough to fight for that kind of enforcement and transparency.”
As far as the race goes, Huntley said he feels “pretty good” about his coalition with fellow progressives in neighboring districts and his chances against Zinerman. Ossé, in particular, has been public with his intentions to oust Zinerman.
“I know that I have all the right enemies for all the right reasons,” said Huntley. “I’m on the right side of what New Yorkers, and what people in our community, want and that’s a commitment to an agenda of affordability that also speaks to a fight against displacement by actually standing up wholeheartedly and advising for the things that we deserve against the people [who] are paying for the problems of everything.”
Huntley added that he supports Charrington and other homeowners who are victims in the housing court system.
Charrington and fellow district leader candidate, Omar Hardy, who has experienced a deed theft situation himself, are running with hopes to change the status quo and displacement in their communities.
Meanwhile, Bailey has been in the housing courts as an attorney for years, defending homeowners against fraud and deed theft. He briefly assisted Charrington in representation when she was initially arrested in April, said Bailey.
“I’ve been actively organizing groups, including churches, young people, homeowners, and I fought to protect the fabric of my neighborhood,” said Bailey. “That’s why I’m running: because my campaign is a campaign that comes from a deeply rooted individual who really cares. I’ve been doing this before there was a title to it and before there was a campaign.”
Bailey is also in full support of an eviction moratorium for homeowners fighting deed theft cases.
“My work as a tenant attorney has shown me how urgent this crisis is,” Bailey said. “I plan to go to Albany ready to fight for strong authentic protection, real affordability, fair housing enforcement, and foreclosure prevention. Another thing I would introduce immediately is, similar to the right to counsel when tenants find themselves in housing court, I want to have a legal fund for homeowners [who] are fighting their cases in the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court costs a lot of money, and appeals cost a lot of money.”
