Job Formation
As employment trends worsen and as housing heads another leg downward, authorities are digging in to their old bags of tricks for new jobs and skill sets that meet the needs of the time.
The New York Times reports, “Real Estate Crime Unit Established in Brooklyn.”
Brooklyn DA Charles H. Hynes
[Brooklyn, NY] district attorney, Charles J. Hynes, says the time has come for a specialized unit to investigate and prosecute them [real estate crimes].
The need for such an office has been building, Mr. Hynes said, announcing the new unit on Friday. As foreclosure rates have sharply risen in central Brooklyn neighborhoods like Bedford-Stuyvesant, Mr. Hynes’s office, with limited resources, has been forced to turn down real estate investigations, and instead has referred victims to civil court or relied on federal prosecutors, who generally concentrate on larger schemes.
Mr. Hynes said the new 12-member unit would be financed for two years with $875,000 in federal money and would help people like Levi Latham, 75, a Brooklyn retiree whose house was, in effect, stolen by a woman who took Mr. Latham’s personal information, a prosecutor said. After executing and recording a false deed, the woman is now listed as the owner of the house.
Our parents and grandparents told us times were hard during the 1930s, but we also may have gotten the impression that people pulled together and found ways to help one another during the Depression. We’re waiting to see evidence that this may occur during the current economic stretch.
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For a good view of the real estate and employment situation in Brooklyn, check out http://www.brooklyn-home.com. There are some detailed real estate price heat maps as well as other demographic info.