When Henry Scott’s mother died two years ago, there was never a doubt he’d want to keep her home. He most definitely did.

“It just has a lot of memories for me,” said Scott, 61.

But a title issue — tied to the lack of a will — put a smooth inheritance at risk. Such problems can result in unclear ownership, simmering family feuds and properties falling into disrepair. That can put family homes such as Scott’s at risk of being lost to unscrupulous developers or — as the Miami Herald showed earlier this year — cities seizing them over property violations and selling them to boost municipal revenue.

Black neighborhoods have borne the brunt of these efforts.

But now community organizations in Jacksonville, which is 30% Black, are fighting back, banding together under the banner of a community redevelopment organization called Local Initiatives Support Corporation to help families struggling with what are known as “heirs’ property” issues.

So far this year, the program has resolved 180 such cases across Jacksonville, according to the executive director of the group’s Jacksonville branch, Irvin Cohen. He estimates that this amounts to helping residents preserve $11 million in debt equity.

The Jacksonville program might be a preview of what’s coming to Miami — and an antidote to what has occurred in cities like St. Petersburg, which has foreclosed on hundreds of homes, most in largely Black neighborhoods, and Bradenton.

Read the full article about heirs’ property issues by Amelia Winger at LISC.