{"id":231788,"date":"2026-04-14T21:05:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T21:05:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/231788\/"},"modified":"2026-04-14T21:05:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T21:05:11","slug":"deegan-revives-plan-for-affordable-housing-trust-fund","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/231788\/","title":{"rendered":"Deegan revives plan for affordable housing trust fund"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan presents her proposed city budget to City Council in July, she says her administration will try again to insert funding for a permanent affordable housing trust fund.<\/p>\n

During the Monday\u2019s Nehemiah Assembly of the Interfaith Coalition for Action, Reconciliation and Empowerment \u2014 known as ICARE \u2014 Nehemiah Assembly, the mayor declined to commit to the group\u2019s request to earmark $10 million from the city toward an affordable housing fund. <\/p>\n

Deegan said the size of the proposal will depend on the city\u2019s revenue levels coming into the 2026-27 budget year, and persuading City Council to keep the trust fund in the final budget \u2014 something it was not willing to do when the fund was first proposed in 2024.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the city, we have identified a home for affordable housing for an affordable housing trust fund,\u201d Deegan said.<\/p>\n

\u201cCurrently, we are evaluating existing funding sources to grow it. And we expect to seed it further in the next budget. I\u2019ll know in the next couple of months how much we can seed it,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s my hope that we can invest in the levels ICARE is requesting. But I know that if I make a promise, like I said, I intend to keep it. So I want to make sure I can.\u201d<\/p>\n

A near standing-room-only crowd gathered the ICARE assembly at the Abyssinia Missionary Baptist Church on the city\u2019s Northside to discuss what the coalition sees as a affordable housing crisis in Duval County.<\/p>\n

Deegan said she expects revenue to be lower in the next fiscal year. Council voted to cut the city\u2019s property tax millage rate<\/a> last year, which will lead to $15 million in revenue loss. That\u2019s coupled with deficits projected at current funding levels by the City Council Auditor\u2019s Office over the next few years.<\/p>\n

ICARE began meetings with the Deegan administration<\/a> last year to discuss and plan new affordable housing initiatives. <\/p>\n

The cooperation started in the wake of council\u2019s Finance Committee cutting a $10 million affordable housing investment in 2024 from Deegan\u2019s proposed budget. That fund program would have come with at $30 million match in private investment.<\/p>\n

Deegan repeated a figure Monday that\u2019s been cited by her administration: that the fund could have led to $120 million in housing projects<\/a>.<\/p>\n

ICARE testimony<\/p>\n

In addition to Deegan, ICARE had a housing industry expert and people seeking affordable housing speak about the $10 million proposal and the region\u2019s housing needs.<\/p>\n

Jessie Spradley, executive officer of the Northeast Florida Builders Association, said it\u2019s both \u201caltruistic\u201d and a good business decision for contractors to take on affordable housing projects.<\/p>\n

\u201cBuilders and construction companies want to build the greatest volume and variety of housing for as many people as possible. The fact is, the more customers we serve, the more business for our industry, the more people we employ and the better it is for Northeast Florida,\u201d he said. \u201cUnfortunately, we\u2019ve seen prices go up dramatically due to rising interest rates, rising construction costs, and burdensome fees and regulations,\u201d Spradley said.<\/p>\n

In its market report<\/a> released last week, the Northeast Florida Association of Realtors says the region\u2019s median home price in March was $395,000, up 4% from a year before.<\/p>\n

Spradley said, at that price, someone making 50% of the area median income \u2014 $71,277, according to the latest data from the U.S. Census Bureau<\/a> \u2014 is spending more than 65% of their income on housing. In a healthy market, Spradley says, that should be 30% of a person\u2019s income or below.<\/p>\n

Spradley said improvements in the region\u2019s affordable housing market will not happen without government investment.<\/p>\n

\u201cWithout financial incentives, you cannot build enough housing for low-income families in Northeast Florida. If local governments can provide the support in financing, we can build more housing for more people,\u201d he said. \u201cWe disagree with the misconception that building accessible housing will attract crime or make traffic around schools worse.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Northeast Florida Builders Association Executive Officer Jessie Spradley, executive officer of the Northeast Florida Builders Association, speaks at the ICARE Nehemiah Assembly on Monday, April 13, 2026. | Mike Mendenhall, Jacksonville Today<\/p>\n

Warren King told the assembly after experiencing abuse at Florida\u2019s Dozier School For Boys<\/a> and spending almost 40 years incarcerated, finding an affordable place to live has been nearly impossible.<\/p>\n

The 74-year-old says his income is less than $1,000 per month from Supplemental Security Income, which has led to his living with his sister and brother-in-law.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy sister is my rock. I love my sister. She did so much to help me after experiencing what I have,\u201d King said. \u201cBut what if it weren\u2019t for her in my life? I\u2019d be living in my car. Where would I live? Where would I shower? Where would I go?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Jacksonville resident Warren King speaks about his experiences trying to maintain affordable housing in Jacksonville at ICARE Nehemiah Assembly on Monday, April 13, 2026. | Mike Mendenhall, Jacksonville Today<\/p>\n

Trust fund background<\/p>\n

City officials say 7,000 homes below the market rate have been built or announced since mid-2023. Deegan said Monday that 6,000 of those are what qualify as affordable or low-income units.<\/p>\n

Last month, City Council approved the Deegan administration\u2019s proposal to create a $2 million revolving fund<\/a> using State Housing Initiative Partnership to build 10 owner-occupied affordable houses and provide the buyers down payment assistance.<\/p>\n

But the Deegan administration and ICARE say Jacksonville still has a gap of 50,000 affordable housing units to fill.<\/p>\n

In March, City Council voted 18-0<\/a> to authorize a $5 million, 20-year development loan to a subsidiary of housing developer Vestcor Inc. for the $56.5 million Campbell Cove mixed-income apartment projects.<\/p>\n

The project is expected to bring 240 apartments to 11000 Beach Blvd. <\/p>\n

At the time, council members praised the project as a way for the city to sustainably finance an affordable housing project and recoup that money from the developer over time.<\/p>\n

Before the vote, council member Jimmy Peluso \u2014 who attended the ICARE assembly Monday \u2014 applauded the Campbell Cove project. But he reminded his fellow city lawmakers that supporting the trust fund would have yielded a larger return in dollars and number of affordable units.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor an extra $5 million, we could have got access to $30 million in private funds to help make sure we are addressing the number one issue in our city,\u201d Peluso said at the council meeting March 24. \u201cVery happy for this bill. Very grateful for this bill. Two hundred and forty units \u2014 great. Still at the end of the day a drop in the bucket. And what we could have done with $40 million, we could have got thousands.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan presents her proposed city budget to City Council in July, she says her…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":231789,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[1571,43323,88005,116,118,117,99028,103695,115],"class_list":{"0":"post-231788","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-affordable-housing","9":"tag-distribute","10":"tag-government-politics","11":"tag-jacksonville","12":"tag-jacksonville-headlines","13":"tag-jacksonville-news","14":"tag-jaxtdy1","15":"tag-mayors-office","16":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231788","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=231788"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231788\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/231789"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=231788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=231788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=231788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}