During the pandemic, many evictions and foreclosures were halted; local tax sales weren’t
Denise Thomas, 60, and her partner, disabled Vietnam veteran Jack Mitchell, 71, lost their home near Orange Mound in a tax sale. “It was really heart wrenching,” Thomas says of losing the home they’d worked so hard to buy 15 years earlier. “I just didn’t have the money. Point blank period. I did not have the money.” (Action News 5)
In partnership with
The Institute for Public Service Reporting
The Institute for Public Service Reporting is based at the University of Memphis and supported financially by U of M, private grants and donations made through the University Foundation. Its work is published by The Daily Memphian through a paid-use agreement.
The Institute for Public Service Reporting found that, between August 2020 and February 2021, the height of the pandemic, local governments auctioned off nearly 1,700 tax-delinquent properties, about a fourth of which seem to be owner-occupied homes.
Topics
affordable housing rental property Denise Thomas tax sales Andrew Kahrl Steve Lockwood Archie Robinson Shelby County Trustee's Office Regina Newman Property tax Jack Mitchell eviction Shelby County Land Bank Jack Turner Red Door MemphisIn partnership with
The Institute for Public Service Reporting is based at the University of Memphis and supported financially by U of M, private grants and donations made through the University Foundation. Its work is published by The Daily Memphian through a paid-use agreement.
Jessica Jaglois
Jessica Jaglois is a Murrow-award winning, Emmy-nominated investigative journalist with more than fourteen years of local TV news experience. She has been covering quality-of-life issues in Tennessee for more than seven years.
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