City Council Member Chi Ossé joined the People’s Coalition to Stop Deed Theft and a slate of city and state lawmakers Monday to urge Gov. Kathy Hochul to impose a temporary eviction moratorium on properties where deed fraud is suspected.

Advocates say the pause is needed to prevent homeowners from being forced out while courts determine whether their properties were illegally taken. Thousands of deed theft complaints have been filed across the city in the past decade, with Black homeowners in Brooklyn disproportionately affected, according to Ossé.

Ossé called on Hochul to use her executive authority to enforce a targeted stay on evictions, modeled on mechanisms used during the COVID‑19 eviction moratorium. Supporters say the state could rely on existing laws — including sections of the Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law and the Civil Practice Law and Rules — to halt removals in cases where ownership is in dispute.

“This is a targeted legal pause to protect families in the middle of unresolved cases, not a blanket freeze on the housing system,” he said.