New Eviction, Foreclosure Prevention Program for Jacksonville residents and business owners

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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The City of Jacksonville and Jacksonville Bar Association has launched a new eviction and foreclosure prevention program to help those in danger of losing their homes or businesses due to the pandemic.

More than 5 million dollars in Cares Act money is being used to help fund the program.

Christian George a lawyer with the Jacksonville Bar Association told Action News Jax they’ve seen the number of people in need go up because of Covid-19.

“We know there’s over 4,000 pending evictions and 4,000 pending foreclosures. That’s two separate numbers in Duval County right now,” George said.

We compared those numbers on evictionlab.org and found that since March around 4,007 evictions have been filed in Duval County.

At least 100 were filed just last week.

There are some requirements to quality for the program.

If you’re applying to the residential application you must have a copy of your mortgage or lease and also you have to have a notice showing the pending eviction or foreclosure.

Those who apply on JacksonvilleCares.com maybe able to get up to $5,000 in relief and up to $10,000 for businesses.

It’s on a first come first serve basis, but both the landlord and the tenant will have to fill out paperwork before qualifying.

“The requirements are the tenant or borrower needs to be at least two months behind their rent or their loan between the months of April and October 2020,” George said.

Businesses will be able to apply for these grants starting on December 7th.

Cox Media Group