Even as New York is getting pushback in its quest to open more buildings for the homeless, an ongoing shelter for mothers and kids in Brooklyn is heading to foreclosure due to errors that put it roughly $550,000 in the hole to the city and a lienholder.
Overcoming Love Ministries, headed by the Rev. Leopoldo Karl, purchased the vacant and dilapidated 228 Pulaski St. on Jan. 10, 2002, and restored it into a distinguished stone building one can see today.
The ministry also owns another vacant building that Karl hopes to begin rehabbing later this year, as well as the vacant land between the two properties.
The Division of Homeless Services provides all its funding, and every day, the four-story Pulaski St. building houses around 52 kids and their moms, runs day programs and in 2016, distributed 150,000 bags of food through its pantry. Its kitchen at 275 Liberty Ave. feeds 400 to 500 people.
When the ministry first bought the building, a Department of Environmental Protection official reversed some outstanding charges but, unbeknownst to Karl, different water bills from 1989 through 1995 remained in Finance Department files. The city also claims it owes real estate taxes from 1988 to 2003.
Even as of February 2012, tax bills were being mailed to the seller. The shelter was included in that year’s lien sale. The bank trust that owns the liens started its foreclosure in 2014. By November 2015, Overcoming Love Ministries owed $394,669, and interest charges brought the total to $541,744.
The charges were not reversed “due to noncommunication between City departments,” Karl stated in an affidavit.
Attorney Dave Fiveson is representing the shelter in its opposition to the foreclosure.
“The city should buy the lien back and sit down and negotiate a resolution with the homeless shelter so we can keep them where they are,” Fiveson said.
The mayor’s office and Finance were looking into the situation; the trust’s attorney did not answer a request for comment prior to deadline, but issued a reply brief that stated in part: “The Court must not be guided by emotion.”
If you own property, listen up: May 11 is the final day to pay city debt or sign a payment agreement before this year’s liens are sold.
There are still 15,877 properties out there, owing $594.36 million.