By: Benyamin Davidsons
A Dec. 15 hearing has been scheduled in Brooklyn Supreme Court, with Bank of America demanding that the court call for a “judgment of foreclosure and sale” on a Brooklyn property in which Public Advocate Jumaane Williams allegedly owes more than $600,000.
As reported by the NY Post, Williams’ multi-family home in the Canarsie neighborhood, has been in foreclosure since 2014. The case has been lagging for years due to the pandemic and only recently came back to life, with the creditor filing a flood of new motions. Bank of America is seeking $622,545 in principal and interest payments from Williams for the property, as per court papers.
The bank is hoping a judge will finally force Williams to pay, or alternatively allow it to put the property up for sale in a foreclosure auction. “This case has been going on for a long time with or without COVID. This case is at its end. This motion is going to be granted and it’s going to be ready for auction,” Adam Leitman Bailey, a city real estate attorney, who is not involved in the case, told The Post. He added that the property may be on the auction block as early as February. “He is making as much money as possible until his luck runs out,” said Bailey.
The 46-year-old Democrat, is a member of the progressive Working Families Party, and has served as Public Advocate since 2019, and previously as a Member of New York City Council from 2010 till 2019. Despite the impressive trust the city has in him as the people’s watchdog, William’s has also shrugged off other fees associated with the home—including with the water authority. As per the Post, there was an unpaid water bill of $1,194.53 in 2020, which has since escalated to over $10,000 after fees, city data shows.
Williams has owned the notoriously dilapidated muti-family rental property since 2005, having bought it for $370,500. To fund the purchase, he had taken out a $296,400 mortgage, records show. He previously lived at the address before he was an elected official.
Since then, he has had several tenants, netting a total of $28,800 in scattered rental income between 2017 and 202, as per public disclosures. Besides for falling short in mortgage payments, he has failed to register the address with the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development, disregarding a law that says building owners who do not live in a property or have relatives living there must register it annually with HDP. He has amassed several violations with the HDP.
The public advocate currently resides far from the rental property, in a townhouse at the Fort Hamilton US Army Garrison in Brooklyn’s more prominent Bay Ridge neighborhood, together with his wife and stepdaughter. A spokesman for Williams commented to say: “As The Post is well aware, these issues are related to a property that has long been tied up in foreclosure proceedings. Any outstanding issues associated with the property will be rectified during that process.”