First Coast Habitat for Humanity dedicated a new house in Fernandina Beach on Friday, Jan. 23, 2026, for a couple striving for homeownership through the nonprofit’s affordable housing program. | Michelle Corum, Jacksonville Today
Published on January 26, 2026 at 4:30 pm
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First Coast Habitat for Humanity has dedicated a new house in Fernandina Beach to a couple striving for homeownership through the nonprofit’s affordable housing program.
With rows of well-wishers seated Friday on the home’s driveway on Division Street, the Rev. Julie Higbee blessed the three-bedroom, two-bath dwelling the young working couple plans to occupy in the first week of February.
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“May this home be a place of rest after long days, of laughter that echoes down hallways, of safety that wraps around it every night,” Higbee said.
Last year, Fernandina Beach maintenance technician Gavin Kay saw an email from the city manager about the nonprofit Habitat program. He was encouraged to apply and motivated because he and his fiancee, University of North Florida student Madison Kline, were ready for their own place.
“We were renting with a handful of people, and then that kind of went south a little bit,” Kay said. “And Madison’s parents let us move in with them, with the idea of us finding a place. And this just kind of fell in our lap.”
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Kay put in dozens of volunteer labor hours into another nearby Habitat home and worked determinedly with Habitat’s Family Selection Service during his application process.
A year ago, Nassau’s Habitat program merged with Habijax in Jacksonville to form First Coast Habitat and expanded to include Baker county.
The group’s three-county goal this year is to close on 34 homes, including this one in Fernandina Beach.
CEO Chris Folds is pleased to oversee more low- to moderate-income residents getting their own home.
“Isn’t this exactly who we want to have affordable housing in our community? This hardworking couple. … I mean, affordable home ownership is so catalytic,” said Folds, addressing Kay and Kline sitting in the front row at the house dedication: “The truth is, the dream that you guys are living is becoming harder and harder for working families to attain.”
First Coast Habitat for Humanity is dedicated to addressing the housing crisis across Northeast Florida. For 37 years, the organization (formerly HabiJax) has helped 2,400 families — through affordable financing, volunteer labor, and sweat equity — achieve the dream of homeownership.
Folds says Duval County statistics show, on average, a family saves about $200 per month owning with Habitat versus what they’d spend on rent.
He said Duval, Nassau and Baker counties have an urgent need for affordable housing, and the organization is looking to acquire land in west Nassau County to potentially “scale up to a subdivision.”
In Nassau County, the median home price is about $484,000 dollars. Monetary assistance to buy this home was provided through the Nassau County State Housing Initiative Partnership Program, which provides down payment and closing cost assistance to qualifying Nassau residents.
