JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – When rents began skyrocketing across the country, Jacksonville didn’t just feel the impact, it ranked among the top five U.S. cities with the fastest rent increases.
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That surge prompted two local housing advocates to take a closer look at what’s driving housing costs in Northeast Florida and who is benefiting. Their findings are now laid out in a new book that examines Jacksonville as a case study in a growing national affordability crisis.
David Jaffe and Katie Renzi are the co-authors of The Financialization of Human Shelter: The Rental Housing Crisis in a Sunbelt City, a forthcoming publication that explores how corporate and institutional investors have increasingly reshaped the local rental market.
Read an excerpt from the book below.
Jaffe launched the Jacksonville Rental Housing Project in 2022, following what he describes as an “unprecedented rise” in rents nationwide.
“When that happened, I decided it made sense to do a deeper analysis,” Jaffe said.
Jaffe and Renzi also help lead the Jax Tenants Union. Their work focuses on housing affordability, tenant rights and the impact of large-scale investors on local neighborhoods.
Renzi said the book’s opening chapter introduces the concept of the “financialization of human shelter,” which is the treatment of housing primarily as a profit-generating asset rather than a basic human need.
“That’s not unique to Jacksonville or the Sunbelt,” Renzi said. “But it is exacerbated here because of the business conditions and policies that exist, which allow corporations to take advantage of these markets.”
According to Renzi, one of the book’s key takeaways is the growing presence of institutional and corporate investors in Jacksonville’s single-family and multifamily housing market.
“They’re investing in real estate here to make a profit,” Renzi said. “And those tend to be the owners who are the least invested in the well-being of residents.”
She said those properties often see higher rates of building code violations and evictions compared with locally owned rentals.
For Jaffe, the motivation behind the research is personal and practical.
“It’s about bringing light to something that’s affecting working people in Jacksonville,” he said. “Clearly, we need better rights and protections for tenants.”
Both advocates have pushed for a city-managed rental registry, which would track rental properties and ownership. They say such a system could improve accountability and help the city better enforce housing codes.
Florida law limits many tenant protections that are common in other states, Renzi said, making it difficult for cities to enact stronger renter safeguards.
“Nearly all tenant protections are preempted at the state level,” she said. “But building code enforcement is one area where Jacksonville could do more to improve living conditions.”
Jaffe said two policy ideas they believe are still allowed under state law include a rental registry and the creation of a local office of housing resources.
“Tenants need a place to go,” Jaffe said. “Somewhere to get information, file complaints and understand their rights. Right now, many people have no idea where to turn.”
Through the tenants union, Jaffe said he receives multiple emails each week from renters dealing with unsafe conditions, eviction threats or unanswered maintenance issues.
“There’s only so much we can do,” he said.
Renzi, who began working on the project as a student, said the work is challenging but meaningful.
“It’s a thankless fight in a lot of ways,” she said. “But it feels good to be part of something that’s trying to engage the community and understand who in Jacksonville is most affected by this issue.”
The Financialization of Human Shelter: The Rental Housing Crisis in a Sunbelt City will be available for purchase next month.