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Dennis.Harrison@jaxlegalaid.org

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So far Dennis Harrison has created 273 blog entries.

Jacksonville City Council set to vote on eviction diversion program

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?”

2023-12-12T10:56:18-05:00December 12th, 2023|Fair Housing, News|

JALA Annual Report

Many of your Northeast Florida neighbors are safe, housed and healthy today because of your contributions to JALA. Thank you! Protecting & Strengthening INDIVIDUALS | FAMILIES | COMMUNITIES

2024-01-04T11:04:16-05:00December 10th, 2023|News|

JALA saves Jacksonville couple’s home from foreclosure after job loss put them behind on loan

“Scott Stief,” 57, a local government employee, came to Jacksonville Area Legal Aid when he and his wife, “Emily” were about to lose their home to foreclosure. They had fallen behind on their home equity line of credit payments after Emily lost her nursing job of 25 years. Although Scott was working with the bank, the lender nonetheless started foreclosure proceedings. Scott and Emly were having difficulty determining the amount they needed for reinstatement of the loan because of the interest payments and type of loan, and they had been served with a foreclosure notice. JALA attorney Mike Pelkowski immediately began working to help the Stiefs avoid foreclosure, walking Scott through his court hearing. JALA housing counselor Joy Bryant-Baucom meanwhile corresponded with the bank’s lawyers regarding the reinstatement figures and helped the Stiefs obtain City of Jacksonville Foreclosure Intervention Program funds. With the right reinstatement information and the city funds, she was able to get a check sent to the bank in the amount needed to get the loan reinstated.

2024-01-04T11:05:55-05:00November 25th, 2023|Client Stories, Fair Housing|

Delores Barr Weaver Legacy Fund offers $25,000 challenge match for the Freed to Run Challenge supporting Jacksonville Area Legal Aid

Local philanthropist Delores Barr Weaver has offered a multi-year challenge grant to encourage donations to the Nov. 17-18 Freed to Run Challenge, the proceeds of which will benefit Jacksonville Area Legal Aid’s Shelter for Elders endowment to fund legal aid for area seniors facing housing instability. The Delores Barr Weaver Legacy Fund will match $25,000 in donations to the 2023 Freed to Run Challenge, provided the event raises at least $75,000 from other donors. In addition, over the following two years, the fund will match a gift of up to $25,000 from a single donor each year, dollar-for-dollar, provided that at least $50,000 can be raised from additional donors. The challenge grant is designed to help the Freed to Run Challenge meet its $100,000 fundraising goal each year. Weaver, former co-majority owner of the Jacksonville Jaguars, has a history of raising funds through running that goes back to 1990, when she offered a dollar-for-dollar matching challenge grant of up to $50,000 to a group of runners who would compete in the Boston Marathon. All the funds raised would go to the Claudia Adams Barr Program in Innovative Basic Cancer Research, which Weaver had established in 1987 at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in memory of her mother, Claudie Adams Barr, who died of breast cancer.

2024-01-04T11:07:33-05:00November 12th, 2023|Endowment, Freed To Run, News, Shelter for Elders, Uncategorized|

JALA wins settlement for client subjected to Unfair Labor Practice

“Cleota Brown” had worked part-time for a local media outlet for more than 20 years when she was hired full-time to work as an administrative assistant in the human resources department. In that position, she and another employee sometimes covered each other’s duties when one or the other was out. During a casual conversation at work, the other employee mentioned that she received overtime pay when covering for Cleota. This came as a surprise to Cleota because she had been told by their supervisor that when one employee covered the duties of another, it had to be done during regular work hours. With encouragement from her colleague, Cleota raised the issue of disparate pay with her supervisor. Rather than acknowledging the unequal treatment, the supervisor accused Cleota of discussing “confidential pay information” and said this was a violation of the law and company policy. The supervisor then ordered Cleota to attend a meeting the next morning. At that meeting, Cleota tried to hand her supervisor a summary of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA)’s guidance as to an Unfair Labor Practice. The supervisor refused to look at this handout and instead threatened Cleota with termination.

2024-01-04T11:08:24-05:00October 31st, 2023|Client Stories|

‘Zombie debt’: How a judgement from 2004 came back to haunt a former Duval County resident 17 years later

Could your old debt come back to haunt you? A man who used to live in Duval County said “zombie debt” appeared in his life seemingly out of nowhere. Justin Purser said a debt of a few thousand dollars from close to 20 years ago had ballooned with interest to more than $11,000 when a debt collector came knocking for the first time in 2021. An attorney at Jacksonville Area Legal Aid said they see “zombie debt” cases locally every week, and with the pandemic putting other types of debt collection on hold, like for mortgages and student loans, some collectors began resurrecting debt consumers might have thought was dead and buried. “Honestly, I thought it was a joke,” Purser told the I-TEAM of his reaction to a notice in 2021 of an $11,000 debt from 2004. “I was never never notified that I had any debt. Like, how is this possible? So I thought it was a joke, but unfortunately, it wasn’t,” he said. Court records show a judgment against him in 2004 for a debt of about $2,800, and with attorneys’ fees, interest, and other costs, the total came to nearly $4,900.

2024-01-04T11:09:02-05:00October 31st, 2023|News|

Mayor Donna Deegan joins in blasting Florida PACE for ‘predatory loans’

Mayor Donna Deegan praised City Council's approval Tuesday of legislation that opens the way for a lawsuit against Florida PACE Funding Agency to stop it from financing home improvements on residential property without the city's authorization. “I want to thank Council President [Ron] Salem and the entire City Council for swiftly and unanimously passing this important legislation that will save citizens from financial ruin,” Deegan said after the council unanimously approved Salem's bill. “I urge everyone in Jacksonville to tell their neighbors about these predatory loans so that another family isn’t hurt by this damaging practice.” Florida PACE Funding Agency is a special government district authorized by state law to provide financing for the installation of improvements that will make buildings more energy-efficient and resistant to hurricane-force winds.

2024-01-04T11:09:44-05:00October 12th, 2023|Uncategorized|

Jacksonville set to fight ‘predatory’ PACE loan program

At least 160 Jacksonville homeowners this year have participated in what officials are calling a “predatory” home-improvement loan program. But this week, the Jacksonville City Council took steps to stop that loan program from doing any further business in the city. Officials also are making strides to help the property owners who have already taken out the loans that, in some cases, threaten to raise the homeowner’s tax bill by 1,000% and possibly risk their homeownership. The Property Assessed Clean Energy loan program — also known as PACE — began in Florida in the city of Kissimmee and Flagler County as a way to allow property owners to make upgrades to their house for zero down payment and full financing. The Florida PACE Funding Agency — special districts created under state law to administer the program — is in charge of the loans. But the program is exempt from the federal Truth in Lending Act, which requires lenders to make sure borrowers can knowledgably pay back loans. The program also is a tangle of public and private entities, third-party firms, contractors and salespeople, according to a Tampa Bay Times report on the lack of oversight.

2023-11-13T14:48:42-05:00October 6th, 2023|Fair Housing, News|

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