A homeless camp in LaVilla. | Sydney Boles, Jacksonville Today
Published on October 15, 2024 at 6:14 pm
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Twenty-five chronically homeless people will receive affordable housing through a new collaboration between Ability Housing and the city of Jacksonville.
The clients will receive help with deposits, furnishings and necessities. Each resident also will get support services in partnership with the Sulzbacher Center.
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The Permanent Supportive Housing Pilot Program is funded through a $500,000 city grant. Ability Housing, a nonprofit developer of affordable housing, will secure apartments around the city.
The cost of homelessness
Helping house and support the homeless will save the city money normally spent on criminal justice and crisis care, Ability Housing CEO Shannon Nazworth said Tuesday after the program was announced.
“That’s very expensive for all of us,” Nazworth said. “What the city is spending on these 25 individuals is a pittance to what the city had been spending to maintain them as homeless prior, so it is very important for the city to really embrace the highest and best use of limited resources that produce the best outcomes for the city and the people being served.”
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Just over 4,200 people are known to be homeless in Jacksonville, 380 of them chronically homeless, according to statistics from the Northeast Florida Continuum of Care.
City Council member Ron Salem and Mayor Donna Deegan created the pilot program to provide affordable housing with individualized support services. The project’s funding will cover Ability Housing’s rental of the 25 units, Nazworth said.
A HUD grant enabled Ability Housing to master-lease over 100 units for formerly homeless individuals, Nazworth said. Those landlords added 25 units to Ability Housing’s portfolio.
Ability Housing will ensure that residents do not pay more than 30% of their income for housing and utilities. Those who have an income will pay a portion of the rent, Nazworth said.
Defining their goals
While helping 25 people find a home off the street may not sound like much, Nazworth said it will help.
“Once they are stabilized and have the luxury, for them, of having a roof and a door that locks, and the safety and security of a place to sleep at night and to live, then they are able to start setting goals,” she said. “What is the next thing they want to do? We help them identify the goals, develop their plan and then work it. Will it make a dent? It will for those 25 people.”
In a statement, Deegan said it is vital that the community come together to reduce homelessness. She called the pilot program “an opportunity to create a better life for the participants and to build a brighter future for our entire city.”
Salem said that the program is an important step to finding sustainable solutions for those struggling with homelessness. It will provide “transformational support to help lift up some of our most vulnerable citizens so they can rebuild their lives,” he said.
