Brian Lera on WNYC.

Last Friday, the Mamdani administration opened another new office in City Hall.

You might have not heard about this one yet.

This time aimed at tackling a growing issue as property values rise in historically black

neighborhoods. It's deed theft. We've done a segment about deed theft previously.

Now there's a new office of deed theft prevention, which will be led by Peter White,

who Mamdani described as a long time supervising attorney for homeowner assistance

at the nonprofit organization Access Justice Brooklyn. Now, this comes just two days after city

council member, Chi Ose was arrested at a protest aimed at intercepting the eviction of a tenant

from a brownstone in Bedstuy, Brooklyn.

General Letitia James and the buyer, 227 Group LLC, dispute the deed theft characterization

that the council member put forward. We'll dig into what's actually

going on there in just a moment. The mayor also announced a six-month moratorium on tax lien sales

while the administration reviews the program, which can put homeowners on the path to foreclosure

over unpaid bills like water and sewer charges.

And we will also talk about the mayor reportedly softening his tone on aspects of this

pieter tear tax that Governor Hockel proposed and that he's embraced after the company Citadel issued a threat as Cranes, New York

business reported that word.

So we're going to get into all of these things with WNYC and Gothamist housing reporter, David Brand.

Hi, David.

Always good to have you on the show.

Hey, Brian.

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