"A ProPublica-New Yorker story about black land loss was cited by the legislation’s sponsor before the near-unanimous vote."
"This week, in a near-unanimous vote, the U.S. Senate passed an amendment to help heirs’ property owners clear titles. Heirs’ property refers to land that has been handed down informally within families, often over several generations; without clear title, the land is vulnerable to legal loopholes that jeopardize ownership. The amendment included $5 million for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s relending program, which would assist families with heirs’ property in resolving ownership issues. The funding is the same amount included in a House bill, which passed in June.
The program allows eligible lending organizations, like cooperatives and credit unions, to provide loans to landowners who are seeking to clear up or consolidate ownership, helping them pay for legal assistance or obtain necessary documentation, for example.
In a statement sent to the Democratic caucus ahead of the Monday vote, Sen. Doug Jones, a Democrat from Alabama who introduced the amendment, cited a ProPublica-New Yorker story about heirs’ property and its disproportionate impact on African American families, many of whom have lost land. The article featured a pair of brothers who spent eight years in jail for refusing to leave waterfront land that had been sold to developers, though their family had held the property for a century."
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