JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – State Rep. Angie Nixon of Duval County is calling on Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to declare a state of emergency to deal with what she calls a housing crisis.
News4JAX has been reporting on the rising cost of homes and rent for months. Jacksonville, where Redfin estimates rents went up 31% last year, is among the hardest-hit cities for rent increases.
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Earlier this week, “60 Minutes” reported one reason rent and home prices are so high in Jacksonville is because a lot of people are moving to the city.
Nixon says that if this path continues, there will be an increase in homelessness and people leaving Florida.
“I am asking the governor to declare a housing state of emergency in Florida,” Nixon said.
Nixon says she hears from people every day about rising housing costs.
“Telling me how they can no longer afford to live in this state and that they’re looking to move out of Florida,” Nixon said. “And that is not right.”
One of them is Sharif Hall. He’s a senior at the University of North Florida who says the about $1,400 a month rent he and his roommates pay is going up $300.
“I was looking for jobs here as well, but I’m also considering moving out of state, especially since I got family and other places where I can kind of stay with them for a little bit,” Hall said.
Nixon says a state of emergency could allow the governor to dip into Florida’s $9 billion in reserves for housing programs.
The governor’s office says that’s not going to happen, saying, “Increasing government intervention into markets can not solve complex problems like this.”
A spokesperson for the governor also noted the budget included $363 million for affordable housing.
“We’re providing support on the housing. We did a bump, $1.3 billion in tax relief to hopefully mitigate some of the crunch that people are feeling, but make no mistake about it, what you need to do is reverse those policies that are causing the inflation to begin with,” DeSantis said.
DeSantis went on to say the number of people moving to Florida and inflation are also leading to the rising housing costs and called for more homes to be built.
“You need to be able to expand that supply,” DeSantis said.
Nixon says more needs to be done now.
“We have currently in the state of Florida, $9 billion in reserves. That money could be tapped into to help people with downpayment assistance, to help fund housing programs that could help folks lower, kind of actually subsidize some of their rent,” Nixon said.
According to apartments.com, the average rent in Jacksonville is a little more than $1,400 a month.