Fair Housing

Suzanne Garrow could not believe the bold, black and discriminatory words that were published in the back pages of the Florida Times-Union. A classified advertisement toward the bottom of Page D6 on May 24, 2021, sought a “Mature Adult Only!” for a property on the Westside. Garrow, a staff attorney with Jacksonville Area Legal Aid in its fair housing division, recalls seeing the advertisement in the region’s biggest daily newspaper and wondering whether there was a wider problem. That question was answered last week when Jacksonville Area Legal Aid announced a settlement with Gannett Co., the Times-Union’s parent company. The media conglomerate agreed to provide its advertising terms and conditions to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to review and correct any issues identified by the federal agency.

Jacksonville Area Legal Aid settled a charge against Gannett Publishing Co. Inc. after the newspaper chain owner published classified advertisements placed by third parties that were allegedly discriminatory based on race, sex and familial status. Gannett did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Gannett owns The Florida Times-Union and St. Augustine Record in Northeast Florida. The charge JALA filed with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Office of Fair Housing and Opportunity alleged that in Gannett’s online and print media outlets it “makes, prints or publishes notices, statements and advertisements with respect to the sale or rental of a dwelling indicating a preference limitation or discrimination based on membership in a protected class” in violation of the federal Fair Housing Act.

Of the 16 lawyers in Florida who have received the Consumer Protection Lawyer of the Year Award from The Florida Bar’s Consumer Protection Law Committee, four either work at Jacksonville Area Legal Aid currently or did at the time they received the award. That is more than any other law firm or government agency in Florida. “The fact that JALA makes up a quarter of that list is truly remarkable,” said JALA President and CEO Jim Kowalski. “It really speaks volumes about the impact of our work and how widely it is recognized within the organized Bar.” JALA’s latest recipient is Adam Thoresen, division chief of Jacksonville Area Legal Aid’s Consumer Advocacy and Litigation Unit, to whom the award was presented June 22 in Boca Raton at The Florida Bar’s annual meeting together with Morgan & Morgan’s John Yanchunis. Thoresen was also the recipient of the National Consumer Law Center’s Rising Star Award in 2021.

‘Flipping humans quickly’: I-TEAM investigates trend COJ report says is causing higher rent, fewer homes to buy JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A News4JAX I-TEAM analysis of Jacksonville property records found more than 9,600 homes across Duval County are owned by large, institutional investors, which are companies that have more than 1,000 homes nationwide in their portfolio. Single-family homes are being bought up by giant investment companies as rental properties. The trend is being blamed for contributing to rent hikes, leaving first-time home buyers with fewer options, and worsening Jacksonville’s affordable housing issues. A Jacksonville City Council committee pointed to this trend as one of the reasons for the city’s affordable housing issues. House prices and rents in Jacksonville have gone up nearly 50% since 2018, driven by people moving to Florida, a period of low interest rates and institutional investors. City Councilwoman Ju’Coby Pittman described the problem as “huge.”