NYC Public Advocate Jumaane Williams lost his two-family home in Brooklyn to Bank of America after reportedly incurring close to $1 million in debt over 15 years by refusing to pay his mortgage.
According to The Post, Williams took the loan on the property to help bankroll a business venture that collapsed.
In January, a state judge sided with the bank by issuing a “final judgment of foreclosure” on the deadbeat’s property at 1392 E. 98th St. in Canarsie.
RELATED STORIES
READ ALSO: Georgia mother scolds jury for son’s conviction after his life in prison sentence
Court records show that Williams could not make payments on a $389,600 mortgage he took out on the house in 2006 to fund a vegan sandwich shop in Park Slope.
Every year, NYC Public Advocate Jumaane Williams earns $184,800 and thousands of additional dollars renting the home, but stopped making the $1,344 monthly payments in 2010, per court records.
Four years later, he was hit with a foreclosure action by Bank of America, which reportedly took over the loan when it purchased original lender Countrywide Financial amid the subprime mortgage meltdown.
Williams’ mortgage debt, which includes interest and penalties was calculated by a court-appointed referee and it soared to $784,927.13 as of May 2023, per legal papers.
NYC Public Advocate Jumaane Williams appealed the decision, yet lost, and the house was put up for sale through a foreclosure auction in April.
Williams’ home was reverted to Bank of America ownership after no bidder offered a price exceeding the debt owed, which now stands at $944,582, as per auction.com.
Councilman Robert Holden, a moderate Queens Democrat and longtime Williams critic, stated that the inability of the NYC public advocate to pay his debts says a lot about him and the current situation.
“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,” he said. “Like many in government, he can’t even manage his own life — so why should anyone trust him to manage the people’s business?”
According to reports, Williams and his mother bought the home in 2005 for $370,500.
A year later, he then went on to secure full ownership of the property.
Over the years, Williams has long blamed his financial woes on the terms of his loan and tenants who failed to pay their rent.
In 2008, his Earth Tonez Cafe in Park Slope was shut down and has not been in operation since.
Williams’ housing troubles fly in the face of his public career as a tenant advocate, as the public advocate’s office often issues a list of the city’s worst landlords.
“Like the very slumlords he put on his ‘Worst Landlords Watchlist,’ Jumaane Williams pocketed rent from tenants, pulled in a six-figure salary, and still failed to make basic mortgage payments on his investment property,” said Arvind Sooknanan, a spokesperson for Assemblywoman Jenifer Rajkumar, a Queens Dem challenging Williams for public advocate in the next month’s primary.
“This isn’t just bad judgment — it’s pure hypocrisy.”
The troubled property of NYC Public Advocate Jumaane Williams has racked up multiple Sanitation fines, including a $300 citation in 2020 for a “dirty area” outside—later increased to $401 with penalties before being settled for $267.
Records also indicate that he once owed over $10,000 in unpaid water bills, which have since been cleared.
Williams doesn’t live at the property; he resides in Bay Ridge at the Fort Hamilton Army Garrison with his lobbyist wife and stepdaughter.
