Good morning Chair Brannan and thank you for holding this hearing today. I am here representing Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, who has been working alongside advocates to reform and replace the tax lien sale since he was a member of the City Council.
Several issues led the City Council to allow the lien sale to expire in 2022, most importantly the fact that this Giuliani-era policy to transfer debt to private purchasers disproportionately impacted communities of color throughout the city. Multiple studies showed that over many years, the Department of Finance was up to nine times more likely to sell a tax lien in a Black neighborhood than a white neighborhood. Additionally, most residential properties in the previous four lien sales were rental buildings located in Black and Latino communities, putting their tenants at risk of displacement.
In the lien sale, the Tax Lien Trust contracts with private servicing companies to collect debt, and these companies often charge up to 18% interest. To avoid foreclosure, some property owners take out predatory private loans or sell their buildings to speculators for less than market value. Or the Trust can foreclose, the property owner can lose their home, tenants have no say in who becomes their new landlord, and the City gives up its leverage to use tax debt to get landlords to pay their delinquent taxes and improve building conditions.
The changes that the Council implemented to the lien sale this year were a step in the right direction. These included improved outreach and education for property owners and more options for “offramps” out of the sale. Unfortunately, these reforms did not go far enough. According to DOF data, the agency sold more than 4,500 liens in the 2025 lien sale, more than in previous years. It is particularly concerning that the neighborhoods with the most liens sold citywide remain low-income communities of color. The four zip codes with the most liens sold are all in Brooklyn: East New York, Bushwick, Cypress Hills, Canarsie, and East Flatbush. It is clear that the lien sale as it is needs to end.
Accordingly, Borough President Reynoso thanks the Council for proposing the legislation on today’s agenda. It will impose strict conditions on the sale of tax liens and create a Council approval process for any sale other than to a City-run land bank, in the interest of preventing foreclosure and creating preservation outcomes that protect homeowners and tenants. Proposed legislation would also address chronically unresolved tax liens held in Trust by requiring their sale to the land bank once it is established.
As we move into a new administration that places a high priority on affordability, these policies these will help us in our efforts to keep homeowners and tenants in their communities in homes they can afford. Borough President Reynoso encourages the Council to move quickly to pass these bills and end the Giuliani-era lien sale as we know it once and for all. Thank you.
