JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Habitat for Humanity of Jacksonville (HabiJax) is appealing to the mayor and city council members to secure more donated land through the city’s Property Surplus Donation Program.
After an Inspector General report revealed that 95% of the people who got free land to build affordable homes never did, the city took preventative action to strengthen the program.
Monte Walker, President and CEO of HabiJax, told News4JAX he feels the new limitations prevent successful organizations from building more homes. HabiJax has built a total of 46 homes this fiscal year.
“The land that we’ve been donated from the city, we have a 100% track record of building on all those homes,” Walker said. “Every lot that we’ve been given through the donation program either has a family there or in the process of building a home and moving a family in.”
Starting in 2019, state law required the city to donate surplus properties to create affordable housing. Nine vacant properties have been donated to HabiJax since then. Seven affordable homes have been constructed and sold to homebuyers.
Four more homes have been permitted and construction is expected to be complete by the end of this year. That’s a total of 11 affordable homes from nine properties.
HabiJax is presenting those numbers in a report to city leaders. Changes to the program now limit non-profits to receive three properties a year after a majority of grantees from 2019 never built affordable homes with donated land. However, even in 2020 when HabiJax could have received five donated properties, it only received one.
Walker believes there are a few issues with the new restrictions imposed by the city.
“We are encouraged that there’s more vetting going on in terms of who’s going to actually receive these properties. Honestly, I don’t think it goes far enough, because they’re now limiting us to three properties, and our belief is to serve more families in Jacksonville,” Walker said. “The vetting process should be looking at the capacity of the builder and we could obviously build a whole lot more than three homes per year.”
Walker said leaders hope they can secure more donations in the future and build more affordable housing.
The report asks the city why HabiJax has been limited to three properties given “the absence of other experienced nonprofits” and “the enormity of the housing crisis in Jacksonville.”
“We see firsthand the great need for affordable housing in Jacksonville, and we just feel like we’ve let our citizens down when we don’t put the lots in the hands of somebody that can actually build a home,” Walker said.
News4JAX reached out to the city for comment on this story. A spokesperson said: “The limit on surplus properties was a recommendation made by the Office of Inspector General’s report, and it has already been implemented in the surplus property donation program. Habijax would need to request legislation from City Council to make an exception. This process has already been communicated to the organization.”