QuoteCity seeks $8 million from Legislature for downtown housing
For the second year in a row, the city of Jacksonville is angling for millions of dollars from the state Legislature for downtown development.
Last year, the city got $12.5 million to pay roughly one-third of the cost for tearing down a piece of the elevated ramp between the Hart Bridge and downtown, a demolition project tied to opening up the riverfront for new construction near the sports complex.
This session, the city wants $8 million for expanding "workforce housing" in downtown. That could give a second life to the vacant three-story Community Connections building, which got its start in 1950 as a YWCA that served as a residential way-station for young women coming to the "big city."
That YWCA era is long gone, but the building could become home to downtown workers if the state Legislature agrees with the local funding request.
The bid for state support faces some hurdles.
Full article: https://www.jacksonville.com/news/20190408/city-seeks-8-million-from-legislature-for-downtown-housing
Quote from: thelakelander on April 09, 2019, 01:58:46 PM
QuoteCity seeks $8 million from Legislature for downtown housing
For the second year in a row, the city of Jacksonville is angling for millions of dollars from the state Legislature for downtown development.
Last year, the city got $12.5 million to pay roughly one-third of the cost for tearing down a piece of the elevated ramp between the Hart Bridge and downtown, a demolition project tied to opening up the riverfront for new construction near the sports complex.
This session, the city wants $8 million for expanding "workforce housing" in downtown. That could give a second life to the vacant three-story Community Connections building, which got its start in 1950 as a YWCA that served as a residential way-station for young women coming to the "big city."
That YWCA era is long gone, but the building could become home to downtown workers if the state Legislature agrees with the local funding request.
The bid for state support faces some hurdles.
Full article: https://www.jacksonville.com/news/20190408/city-seeks-8-million-from-legislature-for-downtown-housing
I have no issue with kids getting a modern facility with probably better tech infrastructure and meets todays building codes. But why demo. Convert to apartments. Affordable apartments. Seriously, Vestcor could make into work place/affordable housing IF the price of the land/building is low. I lived in a converted old elementary school with a simple but nice loft apartment years ago. It was great.
Quote from: jaxjags on April 09, 2019, 02:16:58 PM
Quote from: thelakelander on April 09, 2019, 01:58:46 PM
QuoteCity seeks $8 million from Legislature for downtown housing
For the second year in a row, the city of Jacksonville is angling for millions of dollars from the state Legislature for downtown development.
Last year, the city got $12.5 million to pay roughly one-third of the cost for tearing down a piece of the elevated ramp between the Hart Bridge and downtown, a demolition project tied to opening up the riverfront for new construction near the sports complex.
This session, the city wants $8 million for expanding "workforce housing" in downtown. That could give a second life to the vacant three-story Community Connections building, which got its start in 1950 as a YWCA that served as a residential way-station for young women coming to the "big city."
That YWCA era is long gone, but the building could become home to downtown workers if the state Legislature agrees with the local funding request.
The bid for state support faces some hurdles.
Full article: https://www.jacksonville.com/news/20190408/city-seeks-8-million-from-legislature-for-downtown-housing
I have no issue with kids getting a modern facility with probably better tech infrastructure and meets todays building codes. But why demo. Convert to apartments. Affordable apartments. Seriously, Vestcor could make into work place/affordable housing IF the price of the land/building is low. I lived in a converted old elementary school with a simple but nice loft apartment years ago. It was great.
sorry, wrong thread. Meant to be a comment to Ribault and Raines HS.
Not sure I understand this request, haven't we had several work force housing projects completed recently or under construction now?
I wish Jacksonville would get with the times and stop segregated housing. Just pass a City ordinance that 10% of all multi-family has to be reserved for workforce housing.
Quote from: MusicMan on April 09, 2019, 09:22:18 PM
Not sure I understand this request, haven't we had several work force housing projects completed recently or under construction now?
yes - the issue here is that the YWCA building restoration/conversion costs more than could be recouped by affordable housing - so of course, ask taxpayers for a handout.
Quote from: tufsu1 on April 10, 2019, 06:20:13 PM
yes - the issue here is that the YWCA building restoration/conversion costs more than could be recouped by affordable housing - so of course, ask taxpayers for a handout.
So the solution here would be to make that YWCA project market rate, right? Because if it isn't feasible without subsidies, what else is supposed to happen?
Quote from: marcuscnelson on April 10, 2019, 11:43:36 PM
Quote from: tufsu1 on April 10, 2019, 06:20:13 PM
yes - the issue here is that the YWCA building restoration/conversion costs more than could be recouped by affordable housing - so of course, ask taxpayers for a handout.
So the solution here would be to make that YWCA project market rate, right? Because if it isn't feasible without subsidies, what else is supposed to happen?
These workforce / affordable housing projects all recieve tax credits from the state to make it financially attractive to the developer. No tax credit, no such housing projects. However, this particular project involves renovating a large, old structure, which is more costly than a typical workforce / affordable housing project. So, they want to bridge that financial gap.
Quote from: Kerry on April 09, 2019, 10:57:42 PM
I wish Jacksonville would get with the times and stop segregated housing. Just pass a City ordinance that 10% of all multi-family has to be reserved for workforce housing.
You can accomplish essentially the same thiing but with a carrot rather than a stick. Just require every unit built over and above what code allows, to be workforce or affordable housing. That is what Charleston does. That does more in terms of quantity than the other things they have implemented.
Quote from: Bill Hoff on April 11, 2019, 08:00:00 AM
Quote from: marcuscnelson on April 10, 2019, 11:43:36 PM
Quote from: tufsu1 on April 10, 2019, 06:20:13 PM
yes - the issue here is that the YWCA building restoration/conversion costs more than could be recouped by affordable housing - so of course, ask taxpayers for a handout.
So the solution here would be to make that YWCA project market rate, right? Because if it isn't feasible without subsidies, what else is supposed to happen?
These workforce / affordable housing projects all recieve tax credits from the state to make it financially attractive to the developer. No tax credit, no such housing projects. However, this particular project involves renovating a large, old structure, which is more costly than a typical workforce / affordable housing project. So, they want to bridge that financial gap.
Struck out the 'financially attractive' statement. Without the LIHTC tax credit, these projects simply could not exist by charging well below market rate rents, given the cost to construct these projects.
Further down the page on this link https://www.thejaxsonmag.com/article/affordable-housing-development-proposed-in-brooklyn-page-2/ (https://www.thejaxsonmag.com/article/affordable-housing-development-proposed-in-brooklyn-page-2/), there is a basic primer on how the LIHTC works.
Quote from: vicupstate on April 11, 2019, 08:21:38 AM
Quote from: Kerry on April 09, 2019, 10:57:42 PM
I wish Jacksonville would get with the times and stop segregated housing. Just pass a City ordinance that 10% of all multi-family has to be reserved for workforce housing.
You can accomplish essentially the same thiing but with a carrot rather than a stick. Just require every unit built over and above what code allows, to be workforce or affordable housing. That is what Charleston does. That does more in terms of quantity than the other things they have implemented.
The 'SoBa' apartments going up at the edge of the Southbank behind Tidbits does have a 10% set-aside for workforce housing. That was a condition of the incentive package the developer received from DIA.
There is very little evidence that shows that inclusionary zoning actually works as intended. Most data I read (and this is what I do for a living) indicates that while inclusionary zoning helps a select few... that on a broader macro-level basis, these policies generally drive up building prices, increase housing prices, decrease overall supply of housing and decreases equitable access to affordable housing.
There is a movement now at the State legislature to ban this practice. See here: http://floridapolitics.com/archives/293225-affordable-housing-hb-7103 (http://floridapolitics.com/archives/293225-affordable-housing-hb-7103). While politicians in Tallahassee seemingly love efforts to restrict home rule influence, this particular effort could have far-reaching consequences in land use policy beyond just affordable housing policies. One could argue that things like density bonuses (particularly prevalent in form-based codes) would also come under fire if this bill is enacted.
While I'm not convinced that inclusionary zoning in relation to affordable housing is good policy or not, I do have major concerns about taking away local communities' ability to enact land use policies that are appropriate for the individual wants and needs of a community.
Funding has been vetoed...
https://amp.news4jax.com/news/politics/florida-governor-signs-909b-budget
^I'm not surprised. They've already completed projects, yet they felt the need to start another.
I don't like DeSantis. What does he have against Northeast Florida? (or so it seems, I might be wrong). We'll see what he does in the future for upcoming funding requests for Jacksonville. Miami and Fort Lauderdale need nothing, or very little in my opinion. Seems he's favoring central and south Florida over North Florida. Again, I could be wrong. Don't know why the Curry Administration is lauding and praising him. (sucking up?). But if our leaders did their jobs, we probably wouldn't have to ask this Governor for much at all. I don't like him.
Quote"My view on the housing fund is that's never been done before -- earmark specific projects," DeSantis said when asked specifically about that veto. "I appreciate what Jacksonville is doing. I think that if they revitalize downtown, that would be a neat thing to do and more affordable housing would be good. But I also know that Miami has acute problems. Fort Lauderdale has acute problems. And if someone was to ask me, 'Why Jacksonville earmark but not Miami or Fort Lauderdale?' I wouldn't have had an answer for that. So I think we should just stick with the process. I was leery about setting a new precedent and I think we'll probably be better off."
^This is the reason he gave for denying the funding request. It's hard to argue against his point about not wanting to set a precedent.
My initial understanding was that this earmark would use monies from the general revenue fund. Given the local political establishment's will to get behind this appropriation (given the powerful presence John Rood holds over local politics), I thought that this was a shoe-in.
When I later learned that they were directing Sadowski Fund monies outside of the normal appropriation process... my thought process drastically changed.
During my time on the Times Union Editorial Board, I was very pleased to have the paper publish a position to ensure that Sadowski Fund monies are used for their original intent- ensuring that working families in Florida continue to have access to workforce housing. For years, the legislature had raided Sadowski Fund revenue and diverted them to all sorts of special interest projects that had absolutely nothing to do with housing:
https://www.jacksonville.com/opinion/20190611/tuesday-editorial-desantis-should-approve-affordable-housing-bill (https://www.jacksonville.com/opinion/20190611/tuesday-editorial-desantis-should-approve-affordable-housing-bill)
Governor DeSantis deserves a ton of credit for not only protecting the Sadowski Fund, but ensuring that the process to access those funds are not corrupted by political whims.
To Vestcor's credit, they have been very successful at submitting successful bids for affordable housing tax credits in Jacksonville's urban core over the last 5 years. For a very long time, Jacksonville's pre-consolidated city limits (the urban core) had gotten the shaft and did not receive our fair share of those dollars.
For those interested in learning about the process for financing affordable housing projects using low-income housing tax credits, a portion of this article gives a good explanation/chart:
https://www.thejaxsonmag.com/article/affordable-housing-development-proposed-in-brooklyn-page-2/ (https://www.thejaxsonmag.com/article/affordable-housing-development-proposed-in-brooklyn-page-2/)
When The Lofts at Brooklyn break ground later this year, that will be Vestcor's sixth affordable housing project to go up in the urban core
and the fourth within DIA's boundaries, to have been constructed since 2014.
Quote from: fieldafm on June 24, 2019, 11:11:27 AM
During my time on the Times Union Editorial Board, I was very pleased to have the paper publish a position to ensure that Sadowski Fund monies are used for their original intent- ensuring that working families in Florida continue to have access to workforce housing. For years, the legislature had raided Sadowski Fund revenue and diverted them to all sorts of special interest projects that had absolutely nothing to do with housing:
Unfortunately the Legislature sweeps money from the Sadowski Trust Fund every year...and did so again this year.
Quote from: tufsu1 on June 24, 2019, 05:11:27 PM
Quote from: fieldafm on June 24, 2019, 11:11:27 AM
During my time on the Times Union Editorial Board, I was very pleased to have the paper publish a position to ensure that Sadowski Fund monies are used for their original intent- ensuring that working families in Florida continue to have access to workforce housing. For years, the legislature had raided Sadowski Fund revenue and diverted them to all sorts of special interest projects that had absolutely nothing to do with housing:
Unfortunately the Legislature sweeps money from the Sadowski Trust Fund every year...and did so again this year.
This year marked a change. Desantis' budget did not raid the Sadowsky Fund, whatsoever. That's a stark difference from Rick Scott's budgets which continuously diverted Sadowsky Fund monies into the general fund.
Ultimately the Legislature raided the fund, but they diverted far less money from the fund than they have in year's past. Complicating things was that the majority of the diverted funds went to pay for appropriations specific to panhandle projects related to Hurricane Michael.
Taking a step back from dogmatic theory, this year's budget signaled signs of hope for the preservation of the Sadowsky Fund going forward. For a Legislature that for the better part of a decade has been raiding these funds like a bunch of drunks at a nickel beer night, they now are contending with a governor that has a philosophical difference about the appropriateness of these continued actions. While not perfect, more money was allocated to affordable housing in this year's state budget than has been the norm in the past. To me, that's a sign of optimism.
Quote from: thelakelander on June 23, 2019, 10:11:42 PM
Quote"My view on the housing fund is that's never been done before -- earmark specific projects," DeSantis said when asked specifically about that veto. "I appreciate what Jacksonville is doing. I think that if they revitalize downtown, that would be a neat thing to do and more affordable housing would be good. But I also know that Miami has acute problems. Fort Lauderdale has acute problems. And if someone was to ask me, 'Why Jacksonville earmark but not Miami or Fort Lauderdale?' I wouldn't have had an answer for that. So I think we should just stick with the process. I was leery about setting a new precedent and I think we'll probably be better off."
^This is the reason he gave for denying the funding request. It's hard to argue against his point about not wanting to set a precedent.
In the limited sample set of sound-bytes I've heard or read, DeSantis actually sounds like a decent, thoughtful guy.
Quote from: jaxnyc79 on June 25, 2019, 08:30:16 AM
Quote from: thelakelander on June 23, 2019, 10:11:42 PM
Quote"My view on the housing fund is that's never been done before -- earmark specific projects," DeSantis said when asked specifically about that veto. "I appreciate what Jacksonville is doing. I think that if they revitalize downtown, that would be a neat thing to do and more affordable housing would be good. But I also know that Miami has acute problems. Fort Lauderdale has acute problems. And if someone was to ask me, 'Why Jacksonville earmark but not Miami or Fort Lauderdale?' I wouldn't have had an answer for that. So I think we should just stick with the process. I was leery about setting a new precedent and I think we'll probably be better off."
^This is the reason he gave for denying the funding request. It's hard to argue against his point about not wanting to set a precedent.
In the limited sample set of sound-bytes I've heard or read, DeSantis actually sounds like a decent, thoughtful guy.
He has governed much differently than the guy that used Fox News as a pulpit to wax poetically about hard-core positions. Thus far, he deserves a thumbs up (in my opinion) because he has certainly (and pleasantly) defied my thoughts on how he would govern the State of Florida.
Selfishly, it would have been nice for Jax to get $8 million from the State to help fund the Lofts at Cathedral workforce housing project Downtown. But, its really hard to argue that setting a precedent that completely politicizes the process of funding affordable housing projects by letting earmarks circumvent the State's Qualified Allocation Process, would be somehow beneficial working families. Selfishly (again), North Florida would probably really get the shaft in affordable housing dollars in that kind of environment as historically North Florida loses out to South Florida quite a bit when it comes to political influence within the State budget.
Quote from: fieldafm on June 25, 2019, 08:50:18 AMHe has governed much differently than the guy that used Fox News as a pulpit to wax poetically about hard-core positions. Thus far, he deserves a thumbs up (in my opinion) because he has certainly (and pleasantly) defied my thoughts on how he would govern the State of Florida.
I think he's suprised a lot of people. If he keeps it up he could be favored pretty well in the history books.
Quote from: heights unknown on June 23, 2019, 09:23:14 PM
I don't like DeSantis. What does he have against Northeast Florida? (or so it seems, I might be wrong).
I believe he met his wife in Jax and they both have ties to the area.
He was born here, was in the navy here, met his wife here. They lived in PV until his district got redrawn and then they moved down to Palm Coast to live in the district. I don't think he has anything against North Florida.