ICYMI: Congresswoman Nikema Williams’ Legislation to Keep Family Homes in the Family Passes Unanimously Out of Committee

WASHINGTON – On Tuesday, the Heirs’ Estate Inheritance Resolution and Succession (HEIRS) Act advanced out of the Financial Services Committee. The HEIRS Act, led by Congresswoman Nikema Williams (GA-05), incentivizes states to adopt the Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act and provides grant funds for legal assistance for heirs’ property owners to clear title.

A requirement for a federal survey on heirs properties based on Congresswoman Nikema Williams’ HEIRS Act was included in the bicameral, bipartisan 21st Century Road to Housing Act.

Video of amendment remarks and Vote:

“Across this country, millions of families: Black families, Indigenous families, rural, Appalachian, and farming communities — are sitting on land they cannot sell, cannot borrow against, and cannot fully call their own.” – Congresswoman Nikema Williams

Congresswoman Nikema Williams (GA-05) on the introduction of the HEIRS Act: 

“Black families face numerous barriers that are intentionally designed to make transferring heirs’ property difficult. I’ve experienced this firsthand, as my family’s land in rural Alabama was informally passed down through generations, including to me. After our property taxes increased, we had to plan how to protect our land, and eventually, we made it work. For far too many Black families, their story doesn’t end that way. This legislative package will equip families with the resources necessary to ensure the family home stays in the family, that assets are legally protected, and help create generational wealth to ultimately close the racial wealth gap.”

The HEIR Act has received endorsements from the American Land Title Association, Land Loss Prevention Project, National Association of Counties, National Association of Real Estate Brokers, Council of State Community Development Agencies, National Community Development Association, National Community Stabilization Trust, National Consumer Law Center (on behalf of its low-income clients), National Fair Housing Alliance, National Housing Law Project, National Housing Resource Center, National Low Income Housing Coalition, and the Texas Appleseed Disaster Recovery and Fair Housing Project.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has recognized heirs’ property as the leading cause of Black involuntary land loss, having contributed to land loss ranging from 4.7 million to 16 million acres over the last hundred years.  Heirs’ property is estimated to make up more than a third of Southern Black-owned land — 3.5 million acres, worth more than $28 billion.

If enacted, the HEIR Act would permit the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to assist heirs’ property owners with obtaining clear legal title to their properties as part of HUD’s homeownership counseling services.  It would also allow alternate forms of ownership documentation to be shown when applying for Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery assistance.  The Federal Emergency Management Agency already allows alternate forms of ownership documentation for those applying for disaster relief.

To read the full text of the HEIR Act, click here.

To read the full text of the HEIRS Act, click here.