Grant made available by Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta | ATLANTA (May 8, 2025) – Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC Jacksonville) will receive a $450,000 grant that has been approved for distribution by Ameris Bank, a member of Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta (FHLBank Atlanta) to support work that addresses challenges of heirs’ property.
The grant is made available from FHLBank Atlanta’s 2024 Heirs’ Property Family Wealth Protection Fund. FHLBank Atlanta is awarding a total of $5.9 million through member banks in its district to 21 organizations actively addressing heirs’ property issues. The work by LISC Jacksonville will help families avoid involuntary loss of property, resolve tangled title issues, and promote long-term stability through clear and secure homeownership.
“Our Fund is addressing a significant homeownership problem. Heirs’ property issues occur when land or homes are inherited by an owner’s descendants without a will, estate plan, or court document and/or without a clear title and deed to the property,” said Kirk Malmberg, President and CEO of FHLBank Atlanta. “Without proper paperwork, a property’s condition and value are much harder to maintain, and families may be excluded from accessing home equity loans, tax rebates, homestead exemptions, and disaster recovery assistance.”
Ameris Bank Director of Community Lending Clyde Anderson said, “We are pleased that our application for LISC Jacksonville was selected to participate in this worthwhile program. This grant will help families hold on to what they’ve earned and pass it on to the next generation. Clear and stable property ownership is essential to long-term economic mobility and generational wealth.”
“Heirs’ property challenges aren’t just legal challenges. They are roadblocks to family legacy, housing security, and financial opportunity,” said Dr. Irvin PeDro Cohen, executive director of LISC Jacksonville. “This funding allows us to scale our efforts in clearing title barriers and empowering families to protect what’s rightfully theirs.”
Duval County has the densest concentration of heirs’ property parcels in the southeast region. This means a significant number of local families do not have clear titles to the homes they inherited.
This grant highlights the innovative and community-centered approach that FHLBank Atlanta, LISC Jacksonville and Ameris Bank are taking in their efforts to address heir’s property challenges across the Jacksonville community.
About FHLBank Atlanta
FHLBank Atlanta offers competitively-priced financing, community development grants, and other banking services to help member financial institutions make affordable home mortgages and provide economic development credit to neighborhoods and communities. The Bank’s members – its shareholders and customers – are commercial banks, credit unions, savings institutions, community development financial institutions, and insurance companies located in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and the District of Columbia. FHLBank Atlanta is one of 11 district Banks in the Federal Home Loan Bank System. Since 1990, the FHLBanks have awarded approximately $9.1 billion in Affordable Housing Program funds, assisting more than 1.2 million households. For more information, visit www.fhlbatl.com.
About Ameris Bank
Ameris Bank, a subsidiary of Ameris Bancorp (NYSE: ABCB), is a state-chartered bank headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. Ameris operates 164 financial centers across the Southeast and serves consumer and business customers nationwide through select lending channels. Ameris manages $26.5 billion in assets as of March 31, 2025, and provides a full range of traditional banking and lending products, treasury and cash management, insurance premium financing, and mortgage and refinancing services. Learn more about Ameris at amerisbank.com.
About LISC Jacksonville
Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) helps residents transform distressed neighborhoods into healthy, sustainable communities that are good places to live, work and play. Since 1999, LISC Jacksonville has invested nearly $500 million in urban core neighborhoods, including developing affordable housing as well as retail and community space, and helped create more than 3,000 jobs. For more information about LISC Jacksonville, visit www.lisc.org/jacksonville.
Contacts:
Katie Lopez
Ameris Bank
Natalie Hernesman
LISC / Hart & Associates
natalie@hartandassociatesfl.com
Sheryl Touchton
FHLBank of Atlanta
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