JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The not-for-profit multifamily rental housing developer, Ability Housing, broke ground on a new affordable housing complex off Harlow Boulevard and 103rd Monday morning.
The development will have 90 units on 7 acres. The focus will be to make it sustainable for families while also creating a home and resource for them.
Affordable housing is a priority for Mayor Donna Deegan.
“The work in this realm is far from finished with still 35,000 units short of affordable housing needed in Jacksonville with more than 50% of our renters considered house burned, meaning they spend more than 30% of their annual income on housing and that is just simply not acceptable,” the mayor said.
With the addition of Village at Cedar Hills, more than 3,000 rehabilitated or newly constructed affordable housing units will be built by the end of 2025.
Multiple organizations came together to get this done.
Ability housing has a 97% success rate at providing sustainable housing.
Bryan Campbell, the district director for US Congressman Aaron Bean, says this is personal for their office because Ability Housing is using state and federal dollars to provide solutions to make housing affordable.
“So the definition of sustainability is at the end of the first year, so at the end of 12 months, they are either renewing their lease or they are moving into another sustainable long-term lease that they can afford that keeps them underneath the 30% threshold,” Campbell said.
To live at Village at Cedar Hills, 72 of the units are considered affordable to those who earn up to 60% of the area median income. Ability Housing CEO Shannon Nazworth says for a family of 4, that’s below $50,000 a year.
She also says they provide wraparound services to be a resource of stable and supportive housing.
“Adding those services just enables them to use our housing as a springboard for their success. The services are open to any resident whatsoever, children, adults, you name it. And it could be just one time, you know, ‘I need help with my son’s math, can you help me find a tutor?’ Or, you know, ‘I lost my job and I can’t pay the rent, what do I do?’ We run the gamut, and really just help people create solutions for themselves,” Nazworth said.
They say it’s not just building houses, but creating hope. There is a land use restriction mandating the property stay affordable for 50 years.
Rents will be adjusted for reinvestments to maintain a high-quality property.
Construction for Village at Cedar Hills will take about 18 months. Leasing details won’t be available until late 2025.