JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — New affordable housing units are coming to Jacksonville's Westside, offering homes for low-income families, seniors, and people with disabilities.
The Village at Cedar Hills will have 90 new affordable rental homes. The income-restricted community will house low income working families, persons with disabilities and seniors on fixed incomes.
The lot on the Westside of Jacksonville where the units are planned for has been empty for all of Amanda Crawfords' life. She believes the planned site location, at the intersection of Harlow Blvd. and 103 Street, is the perfect spot for 90 new income restricted housing units.
"I was born at NAS Jacksonville hospital. So a military family and this was an affordable side of town for you know, my family to move into," Amanda Crawford, a Jacksonville Westside resident, said. "Unfortunately, there's not a ton of options for income-limited rentals around here."
Site plans feature three residential buildings comprising 36 one-bedroom apartments, 45 two-bedroom apartments and 9 three-bedroom apartments.
Seventy-two units will be for households earning up to 60% of the Area Median Income (AMI), with the remaining units available to households earning up to 30%. During the first three years of the development, a portion of the units will be set aside for families that need behavioral health care services, which will be provided on side.
"In partnership with Lutheran Services Florida, they are going to identify some of the individuals that are unstably housed and cycling through costly systems of care. We will give them an affordable place to live and individualized wraparound support and we're really hoping that this is the first step towards helping the state create a system to braid resources," Shannon Nazworth, President and CEO of Ability Housing, said.
Mayor Donna Deegan said at the groundbreaking a lack of affordable housing across the city has created finical challenges for thousands of families and currently the city has a need for over 35,000 affordable housing units.
"All of our citizens, as Shannon said, need safe quality, affordable shelter, they need a home in order to be able to thrive. And when our citizens thrive, our city thrives," Mayor Deegan said. "In addition to this development, more than 3000 rehabilitated or newly constructed affordable housing units will be completed by the end of 2025."
The new affordable housing units will be managed by Ability Housing, a local nonprofit.
"The impact we're trying to have is improving the quality of life of the residents of the communities in which we're located. And one of the ways we do that most fundamentally is the housing. But adding those services just enables them to use our housing as a springboard for their success," Shannon Nazworth, President and CEO of Ability Housing, said.
Leaders expect construction to take 18 months. More information on household requirements can be found here.