The city of Jacksonville has added 14 more surplus city-owned properties to a list of sites deemed suitable for donation to nonprofit developers to build affordable housing. The Jacksonville City Council voted 15-0 to approve legislation that adopts the list of properties sprinkled throughout the city’s North, Northwest and Eastside neighborhoods.

Affordable Housing Initiative

The state requires Florida cities to create an affordable housing list and update it every three years. According to city officials, 37 of the 41 properties on the 2023 list were donated to nonprofit organizations for affordable housing projects. The city plans to host an application workshop later this summer for nonprofits to get more information about the properties and how to acquire them for affordable housing projects.

The city estimates the total assessed value of the properties to be $194,091. A council Finance Committee last week removed one property from the original list of 15 sites. According to a real estate certificate approved by the city’s chief real estate officer, Renee Hunter, the removal brought the value down from $200,242.

Nonprofit developers trend toward building for-sale homes on the surplus properties, according to city Chief Communications Officer Phil Perry. “So this is giving more working people an opportunity to buy their first home and start creating generational wealth,” Perry said. “Rental homes at affordable levels are also doing the same in the sense that lower rents allow tenants to save for a down payment over time so they can one day afford to buy a home.”

City Efforts to Address Affordable Housing

The city has launched and been developing more affordable programs this year, as the median purchase price of a single-family home in Duval County continues to rise and rental rates remain high. As of May, the city had about $13.4 million in unspent funds from the Florida State Housing Initiatives Partnership program, known as SHIP.

In March, city lawmakers and Mayor Donna Deegan’s administration committed $2 million from SHIP to 10 affordable, single-family homes reserved for very low-income homebuyers. More funding for affordable housing is likely to find its way into Deegan’s 2026-27 city budget proposal.

Original reporting: Jacksonville Today — read the source article.