JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A one-hundred-million-dollar housing project broke ground today. It’s designed to help people living on the street by providing housing and job opportunities.
A dirt road marks the start of the project. Down the road, they’re building a 100-unit apartment building with hopes of getting people off the street.
“Today, as I was saying, has been eight years in the making,” Cindy Funkhouser, President /CEO Sulzbacher Center, said.
After a long wait, Sulzbacher’s enterprise village is now one step closer to reality. The agency with a mission to help the city’s homeless broke ground on the 37-million-dollar first phase of the project.
It will provide 100 affordable studio-unit workforce apartments for homeless men in Jacksonville.
“Provide permanent housing and an opportunity to end homelessness to 100 people,” said Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan.
“The vision is that people who are unhoused can become housed. They can get job training, they can get a living wage career. They can get world-class healthcare,” Funkhouser said.
They are looking to complete phase one by next year, and while they do that, they plan to clear trees to start phase two.
Phase two will include the relocation of comprehensive wraparound services, including health clinics, a Mayo collaboration, Goodwill training facility, and kitchen/cafe/dining training facility.
“When you get that wraparound service, that’s when you get the best results,” John Rutherford, congressman for the 5th congressional district, said.
With phase three, an on-site for-profit manufacturing facility will provide employment for residents and create jobs for the hardest-to-place workers, including those with felonies and other barriers.
They say they also hope residents can build tiny homes for others to help them get off the street and improve Jacksonville as a whole.
“ If we could take 180 of them, that is a huge impact on downtown, and we are trying to do our part because how long has Jacksonville been talking about redeveloping downtown?” Funkhouser said.
The entire project will cover approximately 16 acres, and they hope to complete it within the next 5 years.
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