Officials with the Jacksonville Housing Authority and the city break ground Friday on new affordable housing in Durkeeville. | City of Jacksonville
Published on January 20, 2026 at 10:53 am
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A coalition of Northeast Florida news organizations – including Jacksonville Today – plan to tackle the issue of housing costs as a shared editorial project in 2026.
Working together, these print, digital and broadcast outlets will examine the complex causes of and solutions to the local housing affordability crisis so that bad actors are held accountable and citizens, nonprofits and policymakers can make informed decisions.
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Not so long ago, Northeast Florida was the state’s best-kept housing secret: It was a younger, working-class alternative to the gilded retirement getaways in the state’s other large metros. Land was plentiful. Rents were lower. Houses were a bargain, even at the Beaches.
That has changed dramatically.
More than half of renting households in Northeast Florida today suffer from excessive housing costs (more than 30% of household income), along with nearly a quarter of homeowners, according to 2023 U.S. Census data. Meanwhile, Jacksonville is Florida’s eviction capital; residents here are kicked out of their homes at twice the rate as Miami, and well above Orlando and Tampa.
And voters in Jacksonville told the University of North Florida Public Opinion Research Lab in 2025 that housing costs topped their list of concerns, displacing crime for the first time in the survey’s history. Just five years ago, only 3% of voters said the same. In 2019, housing didn’t even make the list.
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“Affordable housing has been a focus for the Jacksonville Today news team since our inception,” says Jacksonville Today Editor Jessica Palombo. “By joining together with other local news outlets in the Northeast Florida News Collaborative, we are able to shine a brighter spotlight on causes and solutions that affect housing affordability in our communities.”
For Jacksonville Today’s readers, that will mean more stories on housing from these partner outlets will appear on jaxtoday.org and in our newsletter. We also will explore reporting collaboratively with partner newsrooms, doing more than we could with our resources alone.
“I look forward to working with this diverse group of local news partners, which include both legacy outlets and startups, TV and digital publications, commercial outlets and nonprofits. In an era of shrinking resources for local newsrooms, we believe we will be stronger together,” Palombo said.
About the Northeast Florida News Collaborative
The Northeast Florida News Collaborative is a coalition of news organizations dedicated to providing news and information in the public interest for a more informed and engaged Northeast Florida. Partner news organizations are dedicated to providing fact-based news and information serving the Northeast Florida community. Founding partners are:
- The Tributary
- Baker County Press
- Jacksonville Business Journal
- Jacksonville Free Press
- Jacksonville Today
- News4Jax
- The Florida Times-Union
