JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Since last May, News4JAX has been tackling the tough topic of affordable housing from every angle.
Our weekly “Addressing A4dability” reports have offered insights on everything from health concerns for those living in mobile homes to how to verify your home builder’s tax estimate before you sign on the dotted line.
Now, we’re taking our efforts a step further by joining a coalition of Northeast Florida news organizations – including digital, broadcast, and print media – to tackle the issue of housing costs as a shared editorial project in 2026.
Along with News4JAX, participants include:
- The Baker County Press
- The Jacksonville Business Journal
- The Jacksonville Free Press
- Jacksonville Today
- The Florida Times-Union/jacksonville.com
- The Tributary
“This partnership represents a necessary step forward in our mission of serving Northeast Florida through independent fact-based journalism,” News4JAX News Director Robert Brown said. “We know that many Americans are struggling to afford necessities like housing and our hope is that we can provide information and resources to help them live better lives.”
A 2025 University of North Florida Public Opinion Research Lab poll showed just how important housing costs are to voters: it was listed as their top concern, displacing crime for the first time in the survey’s history.
Just five years ago, only 3% of voters said the same. In 2019, housing didn’t even make the list.
This is a massive change from recent memory when Northeast Florida was the state’s best-kept housing secret: It was a younger, working-class alternative to the gilded retirement getaways in the state’s other large metros.
Land was plentiful. Rents were lower. Houses were a bargain, even at the Beaches.
Now, more than half of renting households in Northeast Florida are suffering from excessive housing costs, defined as paying more than 30% of household income for housing, according to the UF Shimberg Center for Housing Studies.
Meanwhile, Jacksonville is Florida’s eviction capital; residents here are kicked out of homes at twice the rate as Miami-Dade, and well above Orlando and Tampa.
Working together, the coalition of Northeast Florida news organizations, including News4JAX, will examine the complex causes of and solutions to the affordable housing crisis.
The goal is hold bad actors accountable, empower citizens and nonprofits to make informed decisions, and increase public pressure on policymakers so that housing is within reach for all residents of Northeast Florida.