JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Advocates are renewing their push for a $10 million affordable housing trust fund in Jacksonville, as city leaders face growing pressure to address rising housing costs.
Members of the Interfaith Coalition for Action, Reconciliation and Empowerment, known as ICARE, are asking Mayor Donna Deegan to include the funding in her upcoming budget proposal. The request comes as affordability remains a top concern for many residents.
Recommended Videos
“It is a crisis, and it is the number one issue on most people’s minds,” said Joy Viau, a member of ICARE’s housing committee.
Deegan stopped short of committing to a specific dollar amount during an ICARE assembly Monday that drew nearly 800 people. When pressed on whether she would support $10 million, or even $8 million, for the fund, the mayor said she would “commit to doing the very best I can.”
RELATED: ICARE proposes affordable housing trust fund amid rising Jacksonville rents
Viau said the group will continue working with the mayor and City Council to secure funding.
“We wanted $10 million, and she was not able to commit to that, but we committed that we will work with her and City Council,” she said.
Any funding from the city budget would require approval from City Council, which declined to include a similar trust fund in the final budget when it was first proposed in 2024.
Advocates argue the investment would represent a small portion of the city’s overall budget.
ADDRESSING A4DABILITY COVERAGE
“It’s less than one percent, about half a percent of the overall budget for the city, but it’s a good start,” Viau said, pointing to other cities that have made larger long-term commitments.
City officials say funding is critical to supporting affordable housing development. Joshua Hicks, Jacksonville’s affordable housing director, said such investments help close financing gaps that often prevent projects from moving forward.
“It’s vital, especially in today’s market. Affordable housing typically generates lower rents than market-rate units, so there’s a gap that has to be filled,” Hicks said. “The city’s responsibility, and what we try to do through our federal dollars, our state dollars, through some of the public-private partnerships we’re working on, is we cover that gap. And oftentimes, it’s as a loan. You know, it’s money that we’ll get back.”
Hicks said a dedicated trust fund could support a range of programs, including down payment assistance, home repair initiatives, rental assistance and efforts to prevent evictions.
“ICARE asked for $10 million, and she was not able to commit to 10 million because we won’t know what the budget is going to look like for another month, month and a half,” Hicks said. “I imagine the mayor will put something into the trust fund during her budget process, but right now the amount is just to be determined because we don’t know the numbers yet."
According to the latest U.S. Census Bureau data, the area median income in Jacksonville is $71,277. Someone earning about half that, roughly $35,000, can spend more than 65% of their income on housing, highlighting the strain many households face.
Without additional government investment, advocates say the situation is unlikely to improve.
“People need to know that this trust fund can change lives,” Viau said. “It’s from seniors to kids getting out of college to working people. For us, our heart lies with people who are really very low income and low income. We want the trust fund to benefit those people, and we want to hold feet to the fire for that to happen.”
The renewed push follows City Council’s Finance Committee decision to remove a $10 million housing fund from the previous year’s budget. The Deegan administration has said that the program could have leveraged a matching $30 million in private investment and supported up to $120 million in housing development.
The proposed trust fund is expected to be included in the mayor’s upcoming budget proposal, though the amount has not yet been determined.