Ability Housing has opened Village at Cedar Hills, an affordable housing complex on Jacksonville’s Westside. | Michelle Corum, Jacksonville Today
Published on December 9, 2025 at 5:14 pm
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The nonprofit developer Ability Housing opened its new Village at Cedar Hills affordable housing apartments Tuesday at Harlow Boulevard, on Jacksonville’s Westside.
Just in time for the holidays, dozens of Jacksonville families will soon be leasing homes they can afford. The housing is for families earning less than the area median income with rents based on household size and income.
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Reggie Fullwood, chair of the board of directors of Ability Housing, said the work the organization does has evolved over the years. Thousands of units later, the housing is still needed.
“That’s the goal for the work that we do is families and individuals who desperately need the help and they need the housing in Jacksonville,” Fullwood said Tuesday at a ribbon-cutting.
“There’s a study that came out that says there are only 30 rental homes available for every 100 extremely low-income renters,” he said. “So that means out of every 100 low-income renters looking for housing, 70 of them are struggling to find somewhere to live.”
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The completed $31 million affordable housing project sits on 7 acres and was funded through private, local and state sources. Zach Summerlin, policy director of the state’s housing financing agency, the Florida Housing Finance Corp., says 18 of the 90 units will serve those needing public behavioral health systems.
“It’s that type of public partnership. These are our moms, our dads, our brothers, our sisters, our sons and our daughters,” Summerlin said. “They are going to be wrapped with supports — so that we’re able to help stabilize them and make sure that housing stability is a reality for them and that they can succeed where they’re at.”
Affordable housing details
Florida Housing provided $8 million in funding for the Village at Cedar Hills. Jacksonville’s Emergency Rental Assistance Program gave $1 million ,and EverBank financed a $16 million construction loan.
A dedicated case manager will be on site, with the support of LSF Health Systems, for all the residents.
According to Ability Housing, 81 of the units will be set aside for households earning up to 60% of the area median income. The remaining units will be available to households earning up to 30% of that amount.
Rents will range from $500 for a one-bedroom unit for a household at the 30% level to about $1,380 for a three-bedroom at the 60% threshold.
This HUD income data, effective in June, shows how area median income percentages are defined based on household size.
Ability Housing’s director of asset management, Jeremy Smith, says people will start moving in this month, and more will follow.
He points to the QR code on the Village at Cedar Hills sign at the entrance to the apartments.
“We’ve got over 250 interested applicants alone through just this simple QR code preliminary app,” he said. And about 40 or so residents at other Ability properties are scheduled to move to the new property, probably the beginning of next year.
