Brooklyn officials demand full-scale investigation of home theft in black & brown neighborhoods
Adams and Cornegy Charge Homes in Gentrifying Neighborhoods Are Being Stolen
Marlene Saunders, a nurse who owns 27 Dean St., was talking to her adult son in the kitchen when they heard a noise out front. They found a piece of paper had been taped to the door. It told her tenants to pay their rent to the city from now on, not her.
Her son checked with the city and found she owed no taxes. He paid her water bill of just over $1,000 — which was not yet due — before he took off on a trip to Dubai. It took the city more than 21 days to post the payment to her account.
“I toiled three jobs to pay for that house. I don’t want anybody to think they can just come and take my property,” she said. But her house is still out of her possession and there’s no sign that she will get it back.