Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan shared some worrying affordable housing statistics on Wednesday before announcing that she’s including $10 million in her 2024-25 budget proposal to jumpstart “an innovative affordable housing loan fund.”
Deegan said that since 2011 the typical Jacksonville renter has been “rent-burdened,” meaning they spend more than half their income on housing.
And, Deegan said, there are only 48 affordable housing units available for every 100 renters who earn 50% of the area median income.
“It really is a problem that has become really embedded in almost everything that we’re dealing with on a daily basis in the city of Jacksonville,” Deegan said. “The path forward is really not a secret. We need more affordable housing. We need more inventory.”
Deegan said the $10 million in her budget will be part of a larger $40 million fund that incorporates public, private and philanthropic dollars. The fund will offer low-cost financing to affordable housing developers.
“There are millions of dollars in pledges that are already lined up to match (the city’s) investment,” Deegan said.
Deegan said the innovative public-private community funding source, the first of its kind in Florida, will ultimately create $120 million in new multi-family rental housing over 20 years.
“We will bring in $12 of community investment for every $1 the city invests. That is some serious return on investment,” Deegan said. “And it’s not a giveaway or a grant. The city’s $10 million investment is a loan that would be repaid at the end of the 20-year investment period.”
Deegan explained that there has been a shortage of gap financing that can make the numbers work for developers.
In 2023, there were more than $50 million in applications from Duval County developers for low-interest loans from the Florida Housing Finance Corporation as part of their State Apartment Incentive Loan (SAIL) program -- many of which went unmet.
The community-specific fund the city is creating is designed to help close that gap so developers can move forward with affordable housing projects that might otherwise remain stalled. It will also allow them to unlock underutilized 4% tax credit financing from the state, Deegan said.
“The solution seems like it should be simple, but it’s just often been overlooked or underutilized,” Deegan said. “This is a very elegant solution that will create a lot of affordable housing for us.”
The Jessie Ball du Pont Fund and the Community Foundation for Northeast Florida have been instrumental in making the fund happen, Deegan said.
“I cannot say enough about these two organizations that have just shown an absolute willingness and tenacity to deal with our community’s most pressing problems and to be that partner that we desperately need,” Deegan said.
Affordable housing is a key issue in Jacksonville with lots of competition for homes and some apartments.
Home and mortgage rates continue to rise across the U.S., which is causing concern. Recently, the average long-term mortgage rate increased to almost 7%. A year ago, it averaged 6.2%
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This past weekend, the Jacksonville Human Rights Commission (JHRC) held a fair housing expo where people learned about affordable housing through workshops and panel discussions with experts.
City Council will have to approve the $10 million allocation in the mayor’s budget.