Int. No. 384-A

By Council Members Brooks-Powers, Lee, Ossé, Louis, Nurse, Abreu, Restler, Sanchez, Williams, Won, Velázquez, Riley, Hanif and Dinowitz

A Local Law to amend the New York city charter, in relation to the creation of an office of the homeowner advocate within the department of housing preservation and development

Be it enacted by the Council as follows:

Section 1. Chapter 61 of the New York city charter is amended by adding a new section 1807 to read as follows:

§ 1807. Office of the homeowner advocate. a. Definitions. For purposes of this section, the term “homeowner” means a natural person who utilizes a building within the city as a primary residence by being: (i) the shareholder in a cooperative corporation that entitles such owner to occupancy of a dwelling unit in such building; (ii) the owner of a residential condominium unit in such building; or (iii) the owner of such building containing a residence within the city, provided such building has between 1 and 4 dwelling units.

b. There shall be in the department an office of the homeowner advocate, the head of which shall be the homeowner advocate. The office of the homeowner advocate, with the assistance of any third-party organization identified by such office that provides relevant services to homeowners, shall have responsibilities that include, but are not limited to, the following:

1. Receiving comments, questions, and concerns from homeowners related to city services;

2. Referring homeowners to the appropriate state or federal agency and, where needed, facilitating communication or serving as a liaison between the homeowner and such agency;

3. Serving as a liaison between homeowners and the department, referring homeowners to other city agencies, including, but not limited to, the department of buildings, the department of environmental protection, and the department of finance, and providing the names of offices within such agencies that relate to the rights and responsibilities associated with homeownership;

4. Referring homeowners to community based organizations, legal services organizations, and other organizations that provide support or counseling to homeowners on topics such as scam prevention, mortgage counseling, municipal payment assistance, repair financing, financial planning, estate planning, and navigating and accessing private financial and technical resources;

5. Making trainings available to homeowners on topics such as finance related to real property ownership, property management, rental housing, lead paint, mortgage relief, and foreclosure prevention;

6. Creating public awareness campaigns about the rights and responsibilities of homeowners; and

7. Maintaining on the department’s website a list of the names, websites, and contact information of existing not-for-profit organizations providing low-cost or free services to homeowners within the city.

c. By September 30, 2025, and by September 30 of each year thereafter, the office of the homeowner advocate shall post on the department’s website a report. The report shall include, but need not be limited to, the following information, disaggregated by community district where available:

1. The number of inquiries received by the office of the homeowner advocate, including complaints received from 311, further disaggregated by complaint type and frequency;

2. A summary of actions taken for each inquiry type; and

3. Recommendations for free and low cost services that are not already available that might be beneficial to homeowners within the city.

§ 2. This local law takes effect 180 days after it becomes law.

Session 12

IP/TZ

LS #8427

7/26/23 8:50 PM

Session 11

GZ

LS #2340, 18093

Int. #2436-2021