{"id":846707,"date":"2026-06-05T18:23:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T18:23:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/846707\/"},"modified":"2026-06-05T18:23:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T18:23:14","slug":"first-coast-habitat-for-humanity-receives-4-million-investment-to-help-100-families-buy-homes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/846707\/","title":{"rendered":"First Coast Habitat for Humanity receives $4 million investment to help 100 families buy homes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\"><strong>BAKER COUNTY, Fla. <\/strong> \u2013 First Coast Habitat for Humanity announced a nearly $4 million funding partnership that leaders say will help approximately 100 families achieve homeownership across Northeast Florida at a time when housing affordability remains a growing challenge.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.news4jax.com\/topic\/Addressing_A4dability\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.news4jax.com\/topic\/Addressing_A4dability\/\">Click here for more Addressing A4dability coverage<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">The investment, made through a partnership with Northern Trust, was announced as the nonprofit celebrated another milestone: the completion of its first home in Baker County.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">The organization, formerly known as HabiJax, recently expanded its service area beyond Jacksonville into Nassau and Baker counties and rebranded as First Coast Habitat for Humanity to reflect its broader regional footprint.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">\u201cWe\u2019ve been in Jacksonville for many, many years, almost 40,\u201d CEO Chris Folds said. \u201cThere is a real need for affordable housing not just in Jacksonville but in our whole region.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">The newly completed Baker County home marks the nonprofit\u2019s first closing in the county. Another home is under construction nearby.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">Folds said the agreement with Northern Trust involves the securitization of some Habitat mortgages, generating nearly $4 million that can be reinvested into future homebuilding efforts.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">\u201cThat\u2019s enough money to basically provide the subsidy for 100 families to purchase a home,\u201d Folds said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">The announcement comes as affordability challenges continue to affect residents across Northeast Florida. According to U.S. Census Bureau data, more than half of Jacksonville renters are considered cost-burdened, meaning they spend more than 30% of their income on housing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">At the same time, data from the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta shows a household needs to earn approximately $107,000 annually to afford a median-priced home in the Jacksonville area.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">Habitat leaders say those market conditions make affordable homeownership programs increasingly important for working families.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">The nonprofit is now searching for additional land in Duval, Nassau and Baker counties to support future developments.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">\u201cWe need land,\u201d Folds said. \u201cWe\u2019re searching for land in Baker, we\u2019re searching for land in Nassau, and we\u2019re searching for land in Duval.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">In addition to land, the organization is seeking families interested in purchasing homes through the program.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">\u201cIf you\u2019re somebody who is paying a lot of rent and you want to maybe save some money, but also own a home and build equity that you can pass on to your children, we would love to talk to people that are interested in affordable homeownership,\u201d Folds said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">First Coast Habitat for Humanity said households with annual incomes as low as $38,000 may qualify for its homeownership program. Homes are sold at their appraised value, which the organization said is typically around $200,000.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">More information about eligibility requirements and available programs can be found through <a href=\"https:\/\/www.firstcoasthabitat.org\/programs\/homeownership\/eligibility\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.firstcoasthabitat.org\/programs\/homeownership\/eligibility\/\">First Coast Habitat for Humanity.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX &#8211; All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BAKER COUNTY, Fla. \u2013 First Coast Habitat for Humanity announced a nearly $4 million funding partnership that leaders&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":846708,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5136],"tags":[16547,29397,5229,346140,3188,723,7065,7310,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-846707","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-addressing-a4dability","tag-addressing-affordability","tag-america","tag-first-coast-habitat","tag-fl","tag-florida","tag-housing","tag-jacksonville","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116698900555847206","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/846707","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=846707"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/846707\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/846708"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=846707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=846707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=846707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}