JALA’s Aylmar Thompson to receive Florida Registered Paralegal of the Year Award
Aylmar Thompson JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Aylmar Thompson, a paralegal in Jacksonville Area Legal Aid’s Veterans Services Unit, has been selected
‘Cycle of community decline:’ Jacksonville zombie homes could resurge as foreclosures increase
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.”
Pajcic & Pajcic Yard Golf breaks $1 million mark
With pledges still coming in, the 10th annual Pajcic & Pajcic Yard Golf Tournament raised more than $174,000 as of April 17, a record single-year donation making a total over the history of the event of more than $1 million for Jacksonville Area Legal Aid. In addition to law firm and corporate sponsorships, more than 250 people paid the entry fee for the afternoon of miniature golf and fellowship along the St. Johns River in Avondale. The Pajcics match sponsorships and entry fees to double the support for civil legal aid in Northeast Florida. “Yard golf keeps getting better every year. So many folks mention that they prefer donating to this event, knowing that we match their contributions dollar for dollar. It’s such a great way to have a fun afternoon with friends, while raising money for a most worthy cause,” Steve Pajcic said after the event. Jim Kowalski, president and CEO of JALA, said the contribution makes it possible for the civil legal aid law firm to cover its overhead expenses.
Nonprofit law firm looking for ‘fair housing testers’ to find out if there is housing discrimination in Jacksonville
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.
Freed to Run gives $195,000 to Shelter for Elders
The Freed to Run Challenge, a two-day running event that debuted Nov. 17-18 at the Duval County Courthouse, raised $195,000 to benefit the Shelter for Elders program at Jacksonville Area Legal Aid. The contribution supports an endowment that helps provide aid for older adults who have landlord/tenant and other housing-related legal issues but cannot afford to pay an attorney to represent them. The donation, the entry fees and sponsorships each year will be partially matched by the Delores Barr Weaver Legacy Fund through The Community Foundation for Northeast Florida. This year’s match is $25,000.
Jacksonville Area Legal Aid working to save the home of local golf and civil rights legend Arthur Leroy Johnson
As a child in Jacksonville in the 1950s, Arthur Leroy Johnson would go get ice cream with his father and brothers at the Foremost Dairy in Riverside, the Jacksonville, Fla., neighborhood where he has lived for nearly 40 years and where he is struggling to hold onto his two-bedroom home with the help of Jacksonville Area Legal Aid. “My father worked two blocks from where I live today,” said Johnson, whose father was employed at the dairy. “At 5 o’clock in that neighborhood, all the Black people had to be out. There was a whistle that would blow. If you worked in that area, as a Black person you had to be leaving. The whistle was called Big Jim.” In 1986, Johnson, who is now 80, became a homeowner in that very same neighborhood when he bought an 1,100 square-foot, aluminum-sided home from a woman who employed his mother as a domestic worker. Johnson, who will be inducted into the African American Golfers Hall of Fame in May and had a successful career as a concert promoter, eventually ran into financial difficulties when prostate cancer and other health problems sidelined him from his job as director of First Tee – North Florida, a program that integrates golf with a life skills curriculum to help youth build strength of character. He took out a reverse mortgage on the 1912 home, initially borrowing just $24,000. But living on $941 a month in Social Security, he was having trouble making needed repairs to his home. Unable to get insurance, he defaulted on his reverse mortgage. After fighting to hold onto his home for 12 years, he ended up owing a total of $140,000 to pay off the mortgage.
A Decent Home
A Decent Home Community Film Screening Wednesday, 3/6/24 | 5:30- 8:00 pm Jacksonville University Swisher Theater 2800 University Blvd, Jacksonville 32211 A Decent Home addresses urgent issues of class and economic (im)mobility through the lives of mobile home park residents who can’t afford housing anywhere else. They are fighting for their dreams -- and their lives -- as private equity firms and wealthy investors buy up parks. - Free admission and snacks - Screening followed by panel discussion with local housing attorneys For more information, please contact: Missy Davenport, mdavenp@ju.edu, 904-256-7169
2023 Housing Counseling Successes – 115 Homes Saved from Foreclosure!
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 renters couldn’t afford housing in 2022, a new study finds
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%.
Jacksonville has a confirmed general counsel for city’s in-house law firm
The tensest moment in Michael Fackler's path to confirmation as the city's general counsel came when he disclosed that he needed to change a controversial piece of information in his resume. "I list an unfortunate affiliation with Alabama football and in light of recent events, I think I should strike that from the record as politically unsound," Fackler deadpanned during his remarks to the Rules Committee. The banter was a big change from the political battle that culminated in former City Council member Randy DeFoor, who was Mayor Donna Deegan's first pick for general counsel, withdrawing from consideration because of growing opposition. Fackler won unanimous support from the Rules Committee last week and then 17-0 approval Tuesday evening by the full council when it confirmed him as head of the in-house law firm for the city.