Jacksonville with affordable housing issues

In recent statements made by Mayor Donna Deegan, she highlighted the current concern of the Jacksonville, Florida administration regarding housing issues, such as the current real estate market crisis due to the shortage of affordable rental housing.

In her talk, she expressed that this problem is bringing instability to the residents, families, and neighborhoods of the city, turning the situation into an urgent human conflict that needs to be resolved as a priority, considering the well-being of everyone.

According to the mayor, and taking into account the research conducted on the subject, half of the tenants in Duval County are “burdened by costs” as they spend more than 30% of their monthly income on rent. In short, she says, it is a problem of both supply and wages, especially in the city of Jacksonville where local rents exceed people’s salaries.

All these excessive rental costs often cause residents to struggle to cover other essential expenses for their normal functioning, such as clothing, food, education, health, and transportation.

In order to provide a friendly solution to the city’s affordable housing problem, the mayor has proposed using public funds to help increase supply. Her budget for the year 2024-25 includes $10 million aimed at encouraging housing developers to create between 500 and 1,000 affordable housing units.

These funds will be categorized as loans, not subsidies or grants, which will be renewed over 20 years and returned to the city’s coffers. In addition to this, they will be complemented by $30 million that the administration will use from private donations, including philanthropic foundations, and will be managed by Self-Help Ventures Fund, a community development financial institution with extensive experience in lending to affordable housing builders.

Although the mayor knows that despite being a very important strategy for the issue at hand, she knows that this alone will not be enough. Therefore, within her government plan, she is also trying to address the issue of wages and income of the population, a starting point for people to be able to acquire housing.

However, in response to the mayor’s statements, the City Council’s Finance Committee was quick to respond and stated that despite being an innovative solution to the affordable housing crisis in the city of Jacksonville, it is a “half-baked” idea that cannot be executed now due to the city’s limited budget.

Available Foreclosures:

Jacksonville: 150 homes available.

Downtown Jacksonville: 30 homes available.

By Elias DaSilva | October 2, 2024.