ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. – The City of St. Augustine will hold a workshop Monday to receive public input about an affordable housing location.
The city is asking residents to come out to discuss design recommendations, pricing options and how the future community should function for residents.
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This workshop comes after new data showed more than 5 million households nationwide were behind on rent in February, according to National Equity Atlas.
News4JAX spoke with local residents who said they were behind on rent but happy that St. Augustine is taking initiative to better serve the community.
One woman said she works three jobs and still isn’t able to get by with her largest bill being rent.
She said since rent has increased, there have been months when she couldn’t make a payment, and recovering from a missed payment is even harder.
“That means I have to drive even longer hours to make sure I have that money to pay the late fee and also be able to pay the previous rent,” she said.
Alexis Gaines is also someone that has gone through hardships with paying rent. She’s now advocating for more affordable housing. She said what she likes about the workshop is that the community will have a chance to shape what affordable housing looks like to them.
“It’s a right about time situation. It’s about time that folks start realizing [that] from the most blight neighborhoods to the most beautiful neighborhoods, folks are experiencing the same issue,” Gaines said.
The design workshop will be held at 1 p.m. at the city hall on 75 King Street in St. Augustine.