Members of a City Council committee were told Aug 12 that more than 4 in 10 Jacksonville households are either working poor or impoverished, highlighting the need for additional affordable housing and homelessness services in Northeast Florida.
In an information-gathering session at City Hall, the Special Committee on the Community Benefits Agreement heard more than 3½ hours of presentations on needs related to the $300 million in community benefits that were included in the “Stadium of the Future” deal between the city and Jacksonville Jaguars.
The committee is examining $94 million of potential city funding in the deal, which would go toward workforce development, affordable housing and homelessness programs in the OutEast neighborhood near the stadium and countywide.
David Rey, president and CEO of Goodwill Northeast Florida, told the committee that 27% of households in Duval County classify as “asset limited, income constrained, employed,” or ALICE. An additional 14% of households are in poverty.
Those numbers translate to 164,000 households and 410,000 people.
“Forty-one percent of our community cannot afford the essentials,” he said.
As originally proposed, the benefits agreement would provide $150 million in city funding and $150 million from the team.
In approving the larger stadium deal, Council approved a $56 million city contribution for development of riverfront parks and the stadium-adjacent flex field, but uncoupled the $96 million portion of city funds for later consideration.
Jaguars President Mark Lamping told the committee that the team remained committed to providing its $150 million contribution. The Jaguars came to the table with $100 million, which alone was an NFL-record community benefits package, but agreed to provide $1 for every $3 of city investment beyond that. The team capped its additional contribution at $50 million.
“We have said on multiple occasions that if the end result (of the stadium deal) was just a shiny new stadium, we believe we as a community would have missed a big opportunity,” he said.
Other presenters included JAXUSA Partnership President Aundra Wallace, who said education and workforce development were critical for meeting the organization’s goals such as boosting talent development and driving economic growth.
“We are the No. 2 job market in the country. I want to be No. 1,” he said, referring to rankings by The Wall Street Journal in April. “In order to be No. 1, we must invest in talent.”
The meeting also focused on services already being provided in the city, including trade certification programs at Florida State College at Jacksonville and programs led by Kids Hope Alliance, such as the STEM-focused Moncrief Teen Center that specializes in software and tech development.
Joshua Hicks, affordable housing director for the city of Jacksonville, said the community is short 35,000 units of affordable housing, with 26,352 people on the Jacksonville Housing Authority’s waiting list for low-income housing assistance as of March 2024.
Council members attending included committee members Raul Arias, Jimmy Peluso, Nick Howland, Will Lahnen and Ken Amaro. Member Tyrona Clark-Murray was not present. Noncommittee members who attended included Council President Randy White and members Matt Carlucci, Joe Carlucci, Michael Boylan and Mike Gay.
The committee is scheduled to meet again at 3 p.m. Aug. 13, when members will begin making amendments to the agreement.
“The last meeting we heard about the EastSide, today was more on countywide strategic efforts,” said Arias, the committee’s chair.
"So we had a broad spectrum of affordable housing, homelessness, workforce development. I think it was very important for our committee members to understand this, so that when moving forward we talk about the dollars, which will be at tomorrow’s meeting, we know how to potentially allocate them.”