Jacksonville Heirs Property Forum

LISC Jax cordially invites you to our community forum (see below) on February 16, 2023, at the Jessie Ball duPont Center  from 8:45am to 10am. Heirs property, also known as “clouded title”, can be defined as legally unrecognized shared ownership of land because title to land hasn’t been transferred from deceased landowner to the living heirs. The forum will feature insights from heirs property data analysis and highlight national, regional and local perspectives on the challenges and opportunities to mitigate the harm associated with heirs’ properties.

The existing literature identifies heir property, land held communally by heirs of someone who has died without a will, as a primary cause of land loss among African Americans and a major factor contributing to persistent poverty in the South’s demographically-defined Black Belt. Despite the importance of this form of property, little systematic research has been done to quantify the extent of heir property or the potential wealth tied up in clouded titles.

According to (Washington & Favors, 1973), despite repetitive discrimination, blacks accumulated land through purchase of small plots. Most cases of discriminatory practices experienced were ruled unconstitutional: helping Blacks to accumulate millions of acres between 1875 in 1910.  

Black land accumulation grew from three million acres by 1875, eight million by 1890, 12 million by 1900, and fifteen million by 1910.

Join us as we deepen our understanding of this significant issue and lift up strategies to advance affordable housing preservation and development in Jacksonville, Florida.

• Welcome
• Opening Remarks – Set the Context
• Research Briefing 
• Stories from the Field – Why this matters?
• Small Group Discussion
• Closing