Jacksonville residents say they want to see affordable housing, jobs as part of stadium agreement

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Jacksonville residents said they want to see affordable housing, jobs, solutions for the unhoused, and more after the city and the Jags agreed to invest $150 million each into community redevelopment.

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A portion of the funds will go toward building up the Outeast neighborhood while the other portion will be spent countywide and investing in parks.

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Jacksonville residents talked about the changes they would like to see in the city.

“More jobs, lower rates of crimes,” Supora Fairbanks said.

Other residents talked about investing in solutions for people without homes.

“More volunteers helping in the community to get homeless off the street,” Tina Prater said.

Here is a breakdown of Jaguars and the city’s $300 million investment offer.

The city will spend:

• $50 million – Countywide Workforce Development, affordable housing, and homelessness.

• $30 million – Eastside Workforce Development, affordable housing, and homelessness.

• $10 million – Riverfront Plaza

• $12.5 million – Metro Park

• $8.7 million – Flexfield Park upgrades

• $14 million – Countywide park improvements

The Jaguars’ portion will provide $150 million over 30 years. It’ll also equally split the cost of Countywide Workforce Development and Eastside Workforce Development.

“That’s great. The housing rate now is terrible, it’s too expensive. The rent, the mortgage, I think the housing here is too much,” Fairbanks said.

Not everyone is as optimistic.

“I think that is BS,” Prater said. “City Hall has been saying this forever and nothing has ever been done yet.”

Prater said she doesn’t think the Jaguars and the city will follow through to build more affordable housing.

“I seriously don’t…hopefully there’s something good for the future but as far as I can tell, it looks rough,” Prater said.

Expanding construction jobs is part of the workforce expansion plan.

One resident said she hopes the city brings jobs that are eligible to former felons who want to contribute to the city’s economy.