In the first part of a series on deed theft affecting Black homeowners in New York, Karen Carrillo reported for the Amsterdam News on an uptick in fraudulent schemes to take people’s homes in gentrifying neighborhoods. Deed theft happens when someone illegally takes someone’s home without the owner’s knowledge or tricks a homeowner into signing over the deed. Carrillo reported that 3,500 deed theft reports were filed in New York from 2014 to 2023, mostly in Black neighborhoods where property values are rising. She talked to community members and advocates, who explained that deed theft takes shelter from families while also erasing generational wealth that Black families have worked to create.
In Amsterdam News, grantee digs into deed theft targeting Black homeowners in New York
