JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 As housing prices continue to climb, a local program is offering a different path to homeownership for residents priced out of the traditional market.<\/p>\n
Click here for more Addressing A4dability coverage.<\/a><\/p>\n The Jacksonville Community Land Trust is helping income-qualified buyers purchase homes at lower costs by separating ownership of the house from the land it sits on. The city retains ownership of the land, reducing the overall price of the home and making monthly payments more affordable.<\/p>\n For Jacksonville native Hobie Simmons, the opportunity turned what once felt impossible into reality.<\/p>\n \u201cI love Jacksonville. It\u2019s my home. It\u2019s where I grew up,\u201d Simmons said.<\/p>\n But like many first-time buyers, he never expected to actually own a home.<\/p>\n \u201cYou know, homeownership always felt out of reach,\u201d Simmons said. \u201cThe traditional housing market is vast. It\u2019s very difficult to navigate as well. Anything I could find within my price range was incredibly unaffordable or needed so much work done that it quickly became unaffordable.\u201d<\/p>\n Simmons learned about the Jacksonville Community Land Trust after a friend handed him a brochure. At first, he wasn\u2019t convinced.<\/p>\n \u201cIt seemed a little odd,\u201d Simmons said. \u201cI wasn\u2019t too convinced about the community land trust, but I decided to take a leap and give them a call.\u201d<\/p>\n The program launched in 2022<\/a> with the goal of keeping housing affordable as property values continue to rise across the city. Affordability is preserved through a 99-year renewable ground lease, ensuring long-term access to attainable homes.<\/p>\n Executive Director Robin Pfalzgraf said the idea was to prevent land costs from putting homeownership out of reach.<\/p>\n \u201cSo many of these properties are becoming too costly for average people to buy,\u201d Pfalzgraf said.<\/p>\n The land trust is part of Jacksonville\u2019s \u201cFirst Look\u201d ordinance, which allows the organization, along with city agencies and the Jacksonville City Council, to review and claim city-owned properties for housing development before they are declared surplus.<\/p>\n So far, the trust has secured about 50 properties through the program, all designated for affordable housing development.<\/p>\n Removing the cost of the land can make a significant difference.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you look at the average property being $20,000 to $30,000, we take that piece off right away,\u201d Pfalzgraf said.<\/p>\n Under the model, homeowners still have full control over their houses even though the land trust retains ownership of the land.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople have a hard time understanding that the land trust still retains ownership of the dirt,\u201d Pfalzgraf said. \u201cI always tell people to think of it like a townhouse or condominium. You don\u2019t own the dirt it sits on, but you own your unit. Hobie owns his house.\u201d<\/p>\n The home Simmons is purchasing has a true value of about $137,000. With down payment assistance from the city of Jacksonville, the amount financed dropped to roughly $115,000. His monthly payment is expected to be around $900 with a reduced interest rate.<\/p>\n Simmons said he couldn\u2019t find anything comparable in the traditional market.<\/p>\n \u201cAbsolutely not,\u201d he said. \u201cEven if you look for apartments, they\u2019re going to be well over a thousand dollars.\u201d<\/p>\n Pfalzgraf said homes like Simmons\u2019 could sell for closer to $200,000 on the open market.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not people that choose not to work,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s people that are helping us every day. We\u2019re going to see them at work, or they\u2019re delivering our packages, and they\u2019re sleeping in their car. The land trust is a great way to combat that.\u201d<\/p>\n Simmons hopes his story shows the model can work.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is not just about me,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s about showing that this is a proven model that helps build community and helps build stable futures.\u201d<\/p>\n Simmons is expected to close on his home Friday.<\/p>\n The Jacksonville Community Land Trust also has three additional affordable homes expected to hit the market soon and is currently seeking qualified buyers who make below 80% of the area\u2019s median income, which is around $57,000 a year. More information on how to apply is available here.<\/a><\/p>\n Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 As housing prices continue to climb, a local program is offering a different path to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":179580,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[15852,15851,1644,116,118,117],"class_list":["post-179579","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-addressing-a4dability","tag-addressing-affordability","tag-housing","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=179579"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179579\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/179580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=179579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=179579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=179579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}