by Max Marbut
Staff Writer
A major change may be coming for the Jacksonville Housing Commission.
A proposed ordinance working its way through the City Council process seeks to reorganize the Jacksonville Housing Commission (JHC) and separate the Jacksonville Housing Finance Authority from the Commission. The ordinance also seeks to rename the JHC the “Jacksonville Housing and Community Development Commission” and transfer community development oversight of the development of the Consolidated Plan to the Commission as required by federal law.
The change will also meet the requirements of legislation enacted by the State Legislature last year concerning qualifications of Commission members.
In addition, 11 resolutions have been introduced to confirm the appointments of six former members of the Housing Commission to the new Housing and Community Development Commission while the five other current JHC members would be appointed to the Housing Finance Authority.
“It’s more about housekeeping than about any policy issues,” said Wight Greger, director of the City’s Housing and Neighborhoods Department.
The JHC was created five years ago in order to consolidate the City’s efforts to create and maintain affordable housing. Before the JHC was created, Greger said, that task was the shared responsibility of three separate City departments that developed and financed affordable single-family and multifamily housing.
The proposed changes in Jacksonville’s affordable housing development initiative would also create five new positions on the Housing & Community Development Commission that will replace those members who will be appointed to the Housing Finance Authority.
“The new format will be a huge asset for us,” predicted Greger. “The Housing & Community Development Commission members will be people who know a lot about affordable housing needs and the opportunities to create public-private partnerships to create more affordable housing units.
“The Housing Finance Authority really requires a different skills set because it has the authority to issue bonds to build more affordable housing. Bonds can also be used to finance mortgages for first-time home buyers.”
In addition to bond money, the City also has access to state and federal funds for affordable housing and will soon begin to receive revenue from a new program, the Development of Regional Impact Fund.
Greger said that’s money that will be placed into a pool by developers of large residential projects with the pooled funds designated to support development of affordable housing.
Greger cautioned that the current state of the housing market means that pool won’t fill very fast while the need for more affordable housing in Duval County will continue to rise based on conditions.
“We get $20 million a year from state and federal sources. Obviously, that’s not enough for a city this size,” she said. “Housing is a very complex issue and we need more single-family and multifamily affordable housing.
“Foreclosures present an opportunity for the City to purchase homes which can become affordable housing, but a lot of the folks who are losing their homes will put additional stress on the affordable rental housing inventory since they will no longer qualify for a mortgage.
“We’re seeing how more and more people can’t afford market-rate rental housing because one spouse has lost a job or it’s a single-income household. One of the biggest tasks of this new commission will be to identify public-private — mostly private — opportunities to develop more affordable housing in Jacksonville.”
Bernard “Barney” Smith chairs the Housing Finance Authority and has also been a Housing Commission member for five years. He agreed the new format would offer advantages for the development of affordable housing but pointed out funding will always be an issue.
“The challenges are no different today than they have been in the past,” he said. “We have finite resources that can’t match our needs. There is just not enough money.”
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