By: Jared Evan

New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams has quietly lost a two-family property in Canarsie to foreclosure after accumulating nearly $1 million in unpaid debt over the course of 15 years, The New York Post first reported.

Court records show that Williams, one of the city’s highest-ranking elected officials and a longtime tenant advocate, defaulted on mortgage payments starting in 2010 and was ultimately forced to surrender the home earlier this year following a foreclosure judgment.

The home at 1392 E. 98th Street, which Williams initially purchased with his mother in 2005 for $370,500, became solely his in 2006. He had taken out a $389,600 mortgage on the property to finance a now-defunct vegan sandwich shop in Park Slope called Earth Tonez Café. That business closed in 2008, and Williams stopped making his $1,344 monthly payments just two years later, according to the NY Post.

As the Post exclusively learned, Bank of America filed a foreclosure suit against Williams in 2014 after acquiring the loan from Countrywide Financial during the subprime mortgage crisis. A state judge issued a final judgment in January, and the property was auctioned off in April — but no buyers stepped up to cover the nearly $945,000 in outstanding debt, causing the home to revert back to the bank.

Williams, who currently earns $184,800 per year in his city role, had also been collecting rental income from the Canarsie property, according to the Post. Yet the debt continued to mount, ultimately exceeding the original loan by over half a million dollars due to interest and penalties.

This personal financial implosion has invited pointed criticism from both political opponents and observers. “Jumaane Williams has been paid a six-figure taxpayer-funded salary for years, yet he still couldn’t pay his bills or keep his home,” said Queens Councilman Robert Holden, a moderate Democrat. “If he can’t manage his own finances, why should voters trust him with public business?”

Williams has built much of his political career around advocacy for affordable housing, criminal justice reform, and equity in education. He first gained citywide attention as a progressive voice on the City Council, where he represented Brooklyn’s 45th District from 2009 to 2019. Known for his activism and outspoken criticism of police overreach and gentrification, Williams was arrested multiple times while participating in protests, which helped cement his image as a “movement politician.”

He was elected Public Advocate in a 2019 special election and re-elected later that year. The office, often seen as a watchdog for city agencies, publishes an annual “Worst Landlords Watchlist” — a signature initiative of Williams’ tenure that targets negligent property owners.

But critics, including his current Democratic primary challenger Assemblywoman Jenifer Rajkumar, say Williams’ own real estate mismanagement undermines that platform. “Like the very slumlords he put on his watchlist, Jumaane Williams pocketed rent, earned a generous salary, and still didn’t pay his mortgage,” said Rajkumar campaign spokesperson Arvind Sooknanan.

Williams has long attributed the foreclosure to predatory loan terms and unreliable tenants. His spokesperson, William Gerlich, told the Post that the case reflects a broader affordability crisis in the city. “As has been extensively covered for a decade, the Public Advocate has an investment property in foreclosure, in part due to exploitative banking practices,” he said.

Public records also reveal Williams faced additional financial setbacks, including over $10,000 in unpaid water bills and a sanitation fine related to upkeep of the now-foreclosed property — though the bills have since been resolved.