Affordable apartments to be built at former Lake Forest Elementary School site
The former Lake Forest Elementary School site will soon be home to 120 affordable housing units and an on-site early learning center.
It is a partnership with Ability Housing, a nonprofit developer, Duval County Public Schools, the City of Jacksonville and several other organizations.
“Seeing a building that was closed and was a community hub and we can continue to make it a community hub, but in a different way,” said Reggie Fullwood, CEO of Ability Housing.
This is unique because 25 percent of these housing units will be reserved for Duval County Public Schools faculty and staff to help with retention.
Fullwood says financing the $46 million project was a team effort.
“Bank of America, National Equity Fund, the city of Jacksonville played a big role, the LIHTC community foundation,” Fullwood said.
District 10 Councilwoman Ju’Coby Pittman, presenting Wednesday, says this is a long-awaited and necessary project for Jacksonville’s north side. She says through listening sessions with residents, this redevelopment is what the community said they wanted.
“I make no apologies for saying that I’m excited about the commitment that’s being made to this community. Because just like we represent other communities in creating affordable housing, affordable housing needs to be built in this district. And that’s 7, 8, 9 and 10,” Pittman said.
To live here, households will need to earn up to 60% of the area median income. 23 units will be reserved for families earning 80% of the region’s median income. According to Ability Housing, based on 2025 HUD data, a household of four earning up to $61,500 could potentially qualify at the 60% AMI level, or up to $82,000 at the 80% AMI level.
Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan says there is a great need for affordable housing in the city.
“People are really eager to find more affordable housing. We’re about 50,000 units short of what we actually need,” Deegan said.
A University of North Florida study on the affordable rental housing crisis in Jacksonville says that in 2019, about 47% of renters here face the cost burden. This means that the cost of rent represents more than 30 percent of their income. About 23 percent of them are what the study calls severely faced with high costs. Rent represents more than half of their income.
“We’re doing pretty well in market housing. Where we’re lacking is in that range. It’s 60 to 80 percent AMI. That’s where the shortage is, so we need to make sure that’s where we’re laser focused on trying to create those housing units for people who need them,” Deegan said.
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