Gainesville City Commission approves $1.4M for Heartwood affordable housing
Press release from the City of Gainesville
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The Gainesville City Commission voted at its meeting on January 15 to allocate $1.4 million for the construction of new affordable housing in the Heartwood community off Southeast 8th Avenue. The funding would come from the Gainesville Community Reinvestment Area (GCRA), the City’s economic development department that is funded by both the City of Gainesville and Alachua County.
The City Commission also approved changes to Heartwood restrictions to enable construction of the homes on 16 City-owned lots using a community land trust (CLT) model.
“We have seen great success with the land trust model,” said Gainesville Mayor Harvey Ward. “I believe this is the fastest path to adding more quality, attainable homes in our city.”
As part of the City’s CLT program, the new three-bedroom, two-bath homes will remain permanently affordable through deed restrictions that limit current and future sales to income-qualified buyers. Homebuyers enter into a long-term lease on the land, which is owned by the trust and requires owner occupancy.
“Staff have begun accepting applications from affordable housing developers to build the new homes, which are required to be completed by September 2028,” said GCRA Director Rick Smith.
Neighbors with household incomes no greater than 80 percent of the area median income (AMI), as defined by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and adjusted for family size, may qualify to purchase homes on four of the 16 parcels. In Gainesville, this threshold is $83,200 for a family of four and $58,250 for a single applicant.
The remaining homes will be available to buyers earning up to 120 percent of AMI, or $124,800 for a 4-person household and $87,360 for a single individual.
Of the 34 lots in the Heartwood subdivision, 18 homes have been built and sold in the past 4 years. Challenges to selling the remaining parcels have included escalating construction costs and high mortgage rates that have affected buyer demand in the past two years.
The CLT program is part of the City’s comprehensive housing strategy to increase the supply of affordable housing through new construction. Since 2023, the City has transferred 10 additional parcels to the Bright Community Land Trust for affordable housing development.
GCRA staff met with Heartwood residents in October who expressed support for using the CLT model for the available lots.
The CLT program builds on the City’s land-donation initiative launched in 2022, which transferred 11 vacant lots in the Duval community to Alachua Habitat for Humanity for the construction of affordable, single-family homes.
Expanding affordable housing opportunities and revitalizing eastside neighborhoods are priorities outlined in the City’s strategic plan.
So a Trust owns the land for 99 years; homeowners choose from an affordable model and pay for it. They also “lease” the land ($20-$100/mo.) separately from their mortgage and are responsible for maintenance, landscaping, etc. If the home is paid off, the leasing fee continues, and could be subject to increase.Sometimes a monthly fee is required as a repair reserve, and those typically stay with the home for the next tenant. There is also an HOA fee of $167/mo…and so on. These comments are from research with Google Gemini, subject to review. Though many will go with this, it sounds like a deal with the devil to me.
So what happens in the future when residents leave because they can’t afford the HOA fees? Section 8 here we come.
If it were up to the crooked commission, they would own all of Gainesville just to rent it out. They already do that for businesses off NE 43rd—businesses pay for the improvements to the properties, pay taxes for it and end up with nothing more than a lease. The City is able to determine who checks their boxes for occupancy. The businesses and people should contest property taxes since they don’t legally own the property and the City doesn’t tax itself.
Correction – NW 43rd.
Still taking from those who work hard and giving to those who don’t. They’ll look like any other public housing in a year or two: thugs hanging outside, 4 people on the lease and 7 or 8 people living there, screens torn off windows, bicycle tires on the roof, spay painted crap everywhere and a circle to drink liquor and make loud noise far into the night. Oh boy, where do I sign up?
Another taxpayer funded boondoggle by tax and spend City Commisisoners.
There’s so many empty lots still because they’re designed for families or 2+ income homeowners. If they built efficiency- and studio-size cottages, they’d sell like hotcakes. And they could fit more on the same land.
Who’s on the hook for the maintenance and repairs?
Sounds like Cynthia and her ‘boyfriend’ are making progress toward selling their personally owned lots.