Fair Housing

Abandoned homes, sometimes called “zombies”, are infecting local neighborhoods. During the housing recession of 2008, many homes got stuck in foreclosure limbo. In Florida the process can take years and impact surrounding property value if the houses sit abandoned for long. Early forecasts show zombies could come back to life in Jacksonville. North of downtown Jacksonville, Jeanette Williams has seen the problem firsthand. She’s not worried about her house, but the one a few doors down. “It’s been sitting there a long time. It’s been sitting there since I moved in,” Williams said. She was outside with her grandkids on an April afternoon. “That’s what I worry about — them.”

It’s something we don’t hear a lot about when you try to get into housing here in Jacksonville: Have you been discriminated against? Are you discriminated against because of the amount of money you make because of your race because of your sexuality? These are things that Jacksonville Area Legal Aid is trying to change. Affordable housing is a key issue in Jacksonville. There is lots of competition for homes and some apartments. But is it fair competition? News4JAX has been out talking to people looking for housing and asking if they feel their race or other factors are keeping them out of areas, they want to live in. One woman who didn’t want to be identified had plenty to say. “So it is, it depends on where you go in if you’re in, if you try to rent a house and maybe a Mandarin, they won’t rent to people. And if you do, you can’t afford it,” she said.

The dedicated housing counselors at JALA have proactively safeguarded 115 homes from foreclosure through a combination of loss mitigation options and rescue funds. Additionally, we have assisted numerous homeowners in comprehending their rights and evaluating alternatives to prevent foreclosure, ensuring favorable outcomes for their unique situations. By providing borrowers with essential information, we empower them to make informed decisions about their next steps, fostering successful homeownership both now and in the future. Our foreclosure prevention efforts extend support to families facing the challenges of losing a home, especially when no loss mitigation options or funds are available. While our primary focus is on preserving homes from foreclosure, we have also played a crucial role in aiding renters by equipping them with valuable information to help them maintain their residences. As a legal aid, we take pride in our role of saving homes, recognizing that our success is greatly amplified through the invaluable guidance and partnership with JALA attorneys.

A record number of tenants couldn’t afford rent in 2022, according to a new study from the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University. The report found that in 2022, half of American renters—22.4 million households—were cost-burdened, spending a third or more of their income on housing costs. Out of the cost-burdened renters, 12.1 million households spent more than half of their incomes on housing costs. The report follows several years of historically high rent increases that pushed rents above pre-pandemic levels, where they have stubbornly remained. In the third quarter of 2023, rents grew .4% across the country, compared to a 15% rent increase in early 2022, the report said. “That means that those rent levels we achieved during the pandemic aren’t getting worse, but they’re also not falling,” Chris Herbert, managing director of the Joint Center for Housing Studies, said during a panel discussion on the report Thursday. “So over time, we’ll see some easing of the problem as we have incomes hopefully outpacing those rent growths.” Low and mid-income renters wonder when that will happen after years of watching rents skyrocket as their paychecks failed to do the same. From 2001 to 2022, rents grew 21% when adjusted for inflation, the report found. During the same time period, renters’ incomes rose just 2%.

Debbie-Lynn Hamm hit a rough patch this year. A mother of four young boys, the former Marine Corps servicewoman says when she lost her job as a corrections officer back in August, getting behind in her finances led to an eviction notice in September. “When you get those notices, I think that you just kind of get a numb feeling and you kind of shut down,” Hamm says. “It’s hard to think because you’re just scared.” Hamm eventually found help to stem the eviction proceeding through local nonprofit Changing Homelessness and a Veterans Affairs program that the organization administers, but she says the court notice hit her initially as a state of depression. But court deadlines couldn’t wait as she reflected on her life.  “I have been working hard, you know? I served my country. I got honorably discharged,” says Hamm. “I have all these skills and everything. What did I do wrong?”