A private-philanthropic partnership between five investors has launched the long-awaited Jacksonville Growth and Affordability Partnership Fund, or the Jax GAP Fund – a $20 million private-philanthropic loan fund aimed at financing $80 million in new affordable multifamily rental housing in Jacksonville.
The Jax GAP Fund was announced at an Aug. 20 press conference at The River Club. Speakers included representatives from the five investors: The Community Foundation for Northeast Florida, Pinnacle Financial Partners, Self-Help Ventures Fund, the Jessie Ball duPont Fund and lead investor Northern Trust.
Grace Sacerdote, Wanda Willis and Ginny Myrick
In her comments at the August press conference, Jessie Ball duPont Fund President Mari Kuraishi said the fund is already accepting applications from interested developers.
“Affordable housing is a huge priority in Jacksonville,” Kuraishi said. “Studies show that the typical Jacksonville renter has been rent-burdened for over a decade now, spending over 30% of their income on housing.”
Isaiah Oliver and City Council Member Rahman Johnson with Travis Williams and David Garfunkel
According to the University of Florida Shimberg Center for Housing Studies, rentals are becoming harder to find for households earning 50% or less of the Area Median Income (AMI), which is $51,250 for a family of four.
“There are only 45 affordable units for every 100 units sought,” Kuraishi said. “Developers in Duval are keen to meet this demand and build that housing; we just don’t have the right financing tools to help those developers build it.”
Lisa Hayes, Brenda Ballard-Harris and Kathy Hazelwood
Northern Trust invested $10 million to capitalize this fund, followed by $5 million from Jessie Ball duPont Fund and $3 million from The Community Foundation for Northeast Florida and its donors, which included its Local Capital Pool and investments by private philanthropists, including Nancy and Gary Chartrand, the DuBow Family Foundation, Grace M. Sacerdote through the Delores Barr Weaver TCF Staff Giving Fund, Margaret and Robert Hill, Jan and John Hirabayashi, Kimberly and Richard Sisisky, Dori and Bill Walton, Delores Barr Weaver and an anonymous donor. Pinnacle Financial Partners also made a $2 million investment.
Evans Gedeon, Jeremy Hofer and Amanda Barbee
Self-Help Ventures Fund will serve as the administrator of the Jax GAP Fund, pooling investors’ capital and making low-cost loans to developers, as it does for five similar funds in North Carolina communities. Capital will be returned to the investors as projects are completed and developers pay off their loans over 20 years, allowing the original loan capital to be reinvested in the community.