THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK
OFFICE OF COUNCIL MEMBER ALBERT VANN
CITY HALL
NEW YORK, NY 10007
(212) 788-7354
**FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE** OCTOBER 19, 2009
Contact: Shauneida DePeiza Saldenha
(212) 788-7354
COUNCIL MEMBER AL VANN AND COUNCIL MEMBER DAVID WEPRIN HOLD HEARING ON LEGISLATION TO PROTECT WORKING FAMILIES
AGAINST SALE OF HOMES THROUGH WATER LIENS
Legislation would protect seniors, communities of color and others who are disproportionately affected by city law
NEW YORK – Council Member Al Vann, chair of the Committee on Community Development, and Council Member David Weprin, chair of the Committee on Finance, were joined today by city agencies including the Department of Environmental Protection and the Department of Finance, as well as a number of community development organizations, at a hearing on legislation designed to protect working families, seniors and communities of color against the sale of their homes because of unpaid water bills.
Known as the Water Lien Reform Legislation, Intro. 1071-A will require the Department of Finance and Department of Environmental Protection to be responsible for removing exempt-eligible homeowners like those enrolled in Senior Citizen Homeowners’ Exemption, Disabled Homeowners’ Exemption, Property Tax Circuit Breaker, or Enhanced STAR Exemption from water-only lien sales. The legislation will also raise to three from one, the yearly threshold for being placed on the city’s water lien list, and provide homeowners with more time from first notice to repay their debt before their homes are sold.
“The ten neighborhoods with the highest concentration of tax and water liens are the same neighborhoods that are already struggling with high rates of unemployment as well as the aftermath of a decade or more of predatory lending that has lead to intense foreclosure,” said Council Member Vann. “This legislation will ensure that our most vulnerable homeowners are not subjected to an additional financial burden.”
“Clearly there is a problem with water lien regulations when there are a disproportionate number of people being negatively affected by it,” said Council Member Weprin. “We must do what we can to protect our city’s most vulnerable, more now than ever, during these tough fiscal times. The role of government is to do what it can to keep people in their homes – not to make it easy for them to lose their homes.”
In 2007, the Bloomberg Administration pushed the City Council to pass new legislation to allow the city to place liens on one-to-three family homes of residents who are delinquent on their water bills as a way to avoid the threat of a mid-year water rate increase. Council Member Vann was the only member to vote against the legislation.
This spring, there were over 9,000 one-to-three family homes on the lien sale list. The current law now disproportionately affects low and moderate income, one-to-three family (Class 1) homeowners in communities of color. In fact, there are over 600 one-to-three family homes on the list from the central Brooklyn neighborhood of Bedford-Stuyvesant alone.
The Water Lien Reform Legislation will:
(1) Increase the delinquency threshold for class one, two and three-family homes that can be included in the water lien sale from 1 year/$1,000 to 3 years/$1,000;
(2) Exempt class one, two, and three-family homeowners that receive the Enhanced STAR Exemption from water only lien sales and subsequent tax liens;
(3) Require DEP, after consultation with the Department of Finance (DOF), to use best efforts to search and identify SCHE, DHE, Property Tax Circuit Breaker, and Enhanced STAR eligible seniors that are on the lien sale list, and allow the Commissioner of DEP to remove them from lien list;
(4) Require DEP to identify and inform DOF of any Senior Citizen Homeowners’ Exemption, Disabled Homeowners’ Exemption, Property Tax Circuit Breaker, and/or Enhanced STAR eligible seniors that are placed on the lien sale list;
(5) Require quarterly mailing with lien sale process information and exemption information, with description and relevant contact information; and
(6) Extend the time when homeowners first receive notice of the sale to the date of the sale from 90 days to 120 days.
The council members noted that once the liens are sold, homeowners are charged 18% daily compounded interest and must repay the debt within one year to avoid facing foreclosure.
Said Council Member Vann: “With the tough economic times continuing to grip the city, it is more vital than ever to reform the water lien law to help working New Yorkers that are drowning in debt avoid losing their homes.”
OFFICE OF COUNCIL MEMBER ALBERT VANN
CITY HALL
NEW YORK, NY 10007
(212) 788-7354
**FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE** OCTOBER 19, 2009
Contact: Shauneida DePeiza Saldenha
(212) 788-7354
COUNCIL MEMBER AL VANN AND COUNCIL MEMBER DAVID WEPRIN HOLD HEARING ON LEGISLATION TO PROTECT WORKING FAMILIES
AGAINST SALE OF HOMES THROUGH WATER LIENS
Legislation would protect seniors, communities of color and others who are disproportionately affected by city law
NEW YORK – Council Member Al Vann, chair of the Committee on Community Development, and Council Member David Weprin, chair of the Committee on Finance, were joined today by city agencies including the Department of Environmental Protection and the Department of Finance, as well as a number of community development organizations, at a hearing on legislation designed to protect working families, seniors and communities of color against the sale of their homes because of unpaid water bills.
Known as the Water Lien Reform Legislation, Intro. 1071-A will require the Department of Finance and Department of Environmental Protection to be responsible for removing exempt-eligible homeowners like those enrolled in Senior Citizen Homeowners’ Exemption, Disabled Homeowners’ Exemption, Property Tax Circuit Breaker, or Enhanced STAR Exemption from water-only lien sales. The legislation will also raise to three from one, the yearly threshold for being placed on the city’s water lien list, and provide homeowners with more time from first notice to repay their debt before their homes are sold.
“The ten neighborhoods with the highest concentration of tax and water liens are the same neighborhoods that are already struggling with high rates of unemployment as well as the aftermath of a decade or more of predatory lending that has lead to intense foreclosure,” said Council Member Vann. “This legislation will ensure that our most vulnerable homeowners are not subjected to an additional financial burden.”
“Clearly there is a problem with water lien regulations when there are a disproportionate number of people being negatively affected by it,” said Council Member Weprin. “We must do what we can to protect our city’s most vulnerable, more now than ever, during these tough fiscal times. The role of government is to do what it can to keep people in their homes – not to make it easy for them to lose their homes.”
In 2007, the Bloomberg Administration pushed the City Council to pass new legislation to allow the city to place liens on one-to-three family homes of residents who are delinquent on their water bills as a way to avoid the threat of a mid-year water rate increase. Council Member Vann was the only member to vote against the legislation.
This spring, there were over 9,000 one-to-three family homes on the lien sale list. The current law now disproportionately affects low and moderate income, one-to-three family (Class 1) homeowners in communities of color. In fact, there are over 600 one-to-three family homes on the list from the central Brooklyn neighborhood of Bedford-Stuyvesant alone.
The Water Lien Reform Legislation will:
(1) Increase the delinquency threshold for class one, two and three-family homes that can be included in the water lien sale from 1 year/$1,000 to 3 years/$1,000;
(2) Exempt class one, two, and three-family homeowners that receive the Enhanced STAR Exemption from water only lien sales and subsequent tax liens;
(3) Require DEP, after consultation with the Department of Finance (DOF), to use best efforts to search and identify SCHE, DHE, Property Tax Circuit Breaker, and Enhanced STAR eligible seniors that are on the lien sale list, and allow the Commissioner of DEP to remove them from lien list;
(4) Require DEP to identify and inform DOF of any Senior Citizen Homeowners’ Exemption, Disabled Homeowners’ Exemption, Property Tax Circuit Breaker, and/or Enhanced STAR eligible seniors that are placed on the lien sale list;
(5) Require quarterly mailing with lien sale process information and exemption information, with description and relevant contact information; and
(6) Extend the time when homeowners first receive notice of the sale to the date of the sale from 90 days to 120 days.
The council members noted that once the liens are sold, homeowners are charged 18% daily compounded interest and must repay the debt within one year to avoid facing foreclosure.
Said Council Member Vann: “With the tough economic times continuing to grip the city, it is more vital than ever to reform the water lien law to help working New Yorkers that are drowning in debt avoid losing their homes.”
