Guest Column: As Real Estate Prices Rise, Partnerships Are Essential to Provide Affordable Rental Housing

Northeast Florida’s population is growing at an unprecedented rate. This growth will have positive impacts on our local economy; Our region will benefit from new and expanding businesses, a broader tax base, and an influx of creativity from a diverse group of new neighbors.

Investors are taking note of this growth. Across our region, investors are snatching up single-family and multifamily housing, often well above the asking price. This is causing the cost of housing – ownership, and rental – to escalate dramatically. What had been a tough housing market for many working families, is now almost unobtainable.  

As we welcome new neighbors to our community, we must increase our efforts to create housing that is affordable for all Jacksonville residents. Northeast Florida, like every major metropolitan area in America, has a deficit of homes that are affordable and available to working families.

For nonprofits like Ability Housing, these market pressures have resulted in challenges and opportunities. We are competing with national (and even international) investors that have access to capital and can swoop in and snatch up properties very quickly — making it difficult to create more housing that is affordable to those who cannot pay market-rate housing rates.

But, Ability Housing has been lucky to have the support of the city, as well as many non-traditional partners. Across the state, we have partnered with healthcare organizations to create high-quality housing. And, right now, here in Jacksonville we are collaborating with Duval County Public Schools to transform a shuttered elementary school into a rental community that will uplift its surrounding neighborhood. 

Many real estate owners will continue to capitalize on the profits available in this current cycle. Our hope, though, is that institutions with land to divest will recognize the opportunity to make a social impact. By allocating land and property to solve the affordable housing crisis, a deal becomes more than a transaction — it becomes an opportunity for transformation.

Shannon Nazworth, President and CEO of Ability Housing