New York Attorney General Letitia James. Associated Press / Richard Drew
Caribbean Life, February 19-25, 2021 3
By Nelson A. King
Vincentian-born Rosanne Small-
Morgan, a senior advocate for the elderly,
blind, disabled and underserved
population, has declared her candidacy
as an independent candidate for the
office of Trustee in the Incorporated
Village of Hempstead, Nassau County,
Long Is.
There are four Trustees in the Incorporated
Village of Hempstead that has
a population of about 55,000 residents,
according to the United States Census.
With a heavy concentration of Caribbean
Americans, Hempstead is predominantly
African American (Blacks) and
Latinos. There is also a small population
of whites and Asians.
Small-Morgan, 51 – who moved with
her family to Hempstead in October
1994 after residing in Queens Village – is
a wife and a “proud mother of two gifted
children,” one of whom has autism.
Small-Morgan, who migrating from
St. Vincent and the Grenadines in 1988,
is reportedly the first Caribbean-born
woman to seek the office of Trustee in
the Incorporated Village of Hempstead.
A senior consumer advocate, author,
mentor, motivational speaker, radio and
talk show host, with a weekly newspaper
advice column, Small-Morgan told
Caribbean Life that she’s been “sitting
on this announcement for a couple of
weeks, going back and forth with God.
“Literally, if He didn’t speak to my
heart, I wouldn’t do this,” she said. “I
am confident that, with my many years
of public service, along with the many
connections that I’ve made networking
personally and professionally, I can help
enhance and bring positive changes to
the Inc. Village of Hempstead.
“My family and I love this historic
village,” she added. “We know there’s so
much more that can be done to enhance
its growth and opportunities for its residents.
I want to see us all thrive, have
improved quality of life and continued
growth.”
By Nelson A. King
New York Attorney General Letitia
James on Feb. 12 announced an
$800,000 grant to the New York City
Department of Housing Preservation
and Development (HPD) and the Center
for New York City Neighborhoods as
part of an anti-displacement program
aimed at increasing awareness of scams
and deed theft in vulnerable neighborhoods.
The program uses settlement funds
obtained by the Office of the Attorney
General (OAG) and includes a Homeowner
Help Desk and a grassroots “support
your neighbor” outreach campaign.
The OAG’s expansion of its “Protect
Our Homes” initiative is a part
of the New York State Anti-Displacement
Learning Network, a $10 million
program from Enterprise Community
Partners, Inc. (Enterprise) that works
to preserve community stabilization
and allows residents to remain in their
homes in 10 municipalities and counties
across the state.
“COVID-19 has exposed and expanded
the economic pressures New Yorkers
were already under, and homeowners in
gentrified areas throughout New York
City continue to be targeted in schemes
designed to steal their homes,” James
said.
“Deed theft is a crime that threatens
to rip away homeownership and
perpetuates a terrible cycle of displacement,”
she added. “This initiative is
critical to helping New Yorkers stay in
their homes, and my office will continue
to work alongside our government and
community partners to combat these
predatory and heartless crimes.”
James said the anti-displacement network
grant is a dual-track program
aimed at protecting homeowners at risk
of financial distress, foreclosure, and
displacement in South/Central Brooklyn,
Southeast Queens and the Northeastern
Bronx.
Using data analysis, the attorney general
said the program will identify individual
owners at higher risk of becoming
the target of scammers and provide targeted
outreach to these homeowners.
Further, she said the anti-displacement
network grant will support the
expansion of the Homeowner Help Desk,
which will be staffed by nonprofit housing
experts.
In addition to individual outreach, the
program includes a comprehensive outreach
campaign to provide communities
with the information and resources
needed to protect themselves and their
neighbors against scams, James said.
She said the Homeowner Help Desk
will tailor its outreach and services to
the most at-risk communities of color,
focusing on the specific need to disrupt
patterns of fraud, speculation and
displacement, as well as protect home
equity built over decades.
“New York City takes the threat of
deed theft and scams seriously, and we
want to make sure struggling homeowners
get the help they need to keep their
homes, maintain safe, quality housing,
and build equity that can be passed on
to the next generation,” said HPD Commissioner,
Louise Carroll. “Especially in
light of the economic effects of COVID-
19, we are glad to have the support of
Attorney General Letitia James as we
work with the Center and so many others
to actively reach out to vulnerable
homeowners.”
“We are thrilled to work in partnership
with the OAG, HPD, and Enterprise
to deploy our Homeowner Help
Desk so that New Yorkers can protect
their homes, assets, and hard-earned
equity from scams and displacement,”
said Christie Peale, chief executive officer/
executive director of Center for NYC
Neighborhoods. “The Help Desk is an
especially critical tool for supporting
and stabilizing communities of color,
reducing the racial wealth gap, and
empowering homeowners and their
neighbors.”
Elizabeth Zeldin, director of Enterprise
Community Partners, said “Enterprise
is pleased to fund this important
strategy to ensure that homeowners
have the assistance and resources to
stay in their homes.
“The ‘Protect our Homes’ expansion
is a critical strategy to prevent deed theft
and scams and to promote stable homeownership
in key NYC neighborhoods,”
she said.
James said teed theft has become a
common tool of career criminals and
unscrupulous real estate developers to
illegally obtain real estate, so they can
sell it at a huge profit in high-demand
housing markets, like Brooklyn.
“This illegal scheme especially affects
people of color, the elderly and other vulnerable
homeowners who are scammed
into signing over the deeds to their
homes to con artists,” she said.
“Deed theft usually happens when
scammers forge deeds to look like they
purchased the home, or when homeowners
are tricked into signing their
homes over to a scammer without knowing
what they are doing,” she added.
“Scammers then seek to evict the homeowner
and sell the house to a third party
at a significant profit.”
In January 2020, Attorney General
James launched the office’s “Protect Our
Homes” initiative, a program that uses
prevention and enforcement actions to
combat deed theft in New York City.
Rosanne Small-Morgan. Zoe Morgan
$800k grant to further
combat deed theft
Vincentian
declares
candidacy