2024 ILHPR Conference: Heirs’ Property and the Racial Wealth Gap (Day 2)

0:00 Welcome
5:52 Quantifying Heirs’ Property: Methodologies and Significance
1:05:18 The Racial Will-Making Gap and Efforts to Close It
2:07:11 The Role of Federal Institutions in Addressing Heirs’ Property Matters
3:05:06 Keynote Speech and Fireside Chat
4:07:59 Perspectives on Heirs’ Property Matters from Lawyers in the Trenches
5:08:34 Property Tax Foreclosures of Heirs’ Property Homes
6:11:12 Heirs’ Property/Tangled Title Issues in the Urban Context
7:14:30 Closing Remarks
Over $32 billion of heirs’ property in the U.S. is at-risk. Learn about this driver of the racial wealth gap - and potential solutions.
Initiative on Land, Housing & Property Rights 2024 Conference, Day Two
Co-sponsor:
Institute for the Liberal Arts at Boston College
Welcome
Professor Thomas W. Mitchell, holder of the Robert S. Drinan S.J. Endowed Chair and Director of the Initiative on Land, Housing and Property Rights at Boston College Law School.
Panel 1: Quantifying Heirs’ Property: Methodologies and Significance
Panelists: Maria Evans, Vice President for Sustainable Communities Partnerships, Fannie Mae; Natasha Moodie, Research Associate, Housing Assistance Council; Assistant Professor Ryan Thomson, Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology, Auburn University; Kara Woods, Research Analyst, Socially Disadvantaged Ranchers and Farmers Policy Research Center, Alcorn State University. Moderator: Cassandra Johnson Gaither, Ph.D., Research Social Scientist, Southern Research Station, Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture
Panel 2: The Racial Will-Making Gap and Efforts to Close It
Panelists: Professor Keeva Terry, Howard University School of Law; Gal Wettstein, Senior Research Economist, Center for Retirement Research, Boston College; Jesse Williams, Law Fellow, Environmental Law & Policy Clinic, Heirs’ Property Project, Wake Forest University School of Law. Moderator: Terrence Franklin, Partner, Sacks, Glazier, Franklin & Lodise LLP.
Panel 3: The Role of Federal Institutions in Addressing Heirs’ Property Matters
Panelists: Linda Cronin, Director of Outreach for Farm Loan Programs, Farm Service Agency, U.S. Department of Agriculture; Cassandra Johnson Gaither, Ph.D., Research Social Scientist, USDA Forest Service, Southern Research Station; Sarah Stein, J.D., M.A., Senior Research Adviser, Community & Economic Development, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. Moderator: Professor Robert Zabawa, Research Professor of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Tuskegee University.
Keynote Speech and Fireside Chat
Keynote from Professor Thomas W. Mitchell, holder of the Robert S. Drinan S.J. Endowed Chair and Director of the Initiative on Land, Housing and Property Rights at Boston College Law School. Fireside chat with Dean Odette Lienau following the keynote address.
Panel 4: Perspectives on Heirs’ Property Matters from Lawyers in the Trenches
Panelists: Jacy Fisher, Attorney, Gregory Varner & Associates (AL); Brianna Bogan, Director of Legal Services, Center for Heirs’ Property Preservation (SC); Andrea Barnes, Director of Heirs’ Property, Mississippi Center for Justice (MS). Moderator: Mavis Gragg, CEO, HeirShares (NC) and Loeb Fellow, Harvard Graduate School of Design.
Panel 5: Property Tax Foreclosures of Heirs’ Property Homes
Panelists: Professor Heather Way, University of Texas School of Law; Andrea Bopp Stark, Senior Attorney, National Consumer Law Center; Kate Dugan, Staff Attorney, Community Legal Services of Philadelphia. Moderator: Odette Williamson, Senior Attorney, National Consumer Law Center.
Panel 6: Heirs’ Property/Tangled Title Issues in the Urban Context
Panelists: Octavia Howell, Manager, Philadelphia Research and Policy Initiative, The Pew Charitable Trusts; Kristopher Smith, Community Development Program Officer, Jacksonville LISC; Genevieve Hébert-Fajardo, Clinical Professor of Law, St. Mary’s School of Law in San Antonio, TX; Scott Kohanowski, General Counsel, Center for NYC Neighborhoods; James Leonard, Attorney and Commissioner of Records, City of Philadelphia, PA. Moderator: Nefertitti Jackmon, Community Displacement Prevention Officer, City of Austin, TX.
Closing Remarks
Professor Thomas W. Mitchell, holder of the Robert S. Drinan S.J. Endowed Chair and Director of the Initiative on Land, Housing and Property Rights at Boston College Law School.