Carlucci Moves to Restore $4.9M Jacksonville Affordable Housing Trust Fund

By Mike Joe

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — At-large City Councilman Matt Carlucci says he will ask colleagues on budget night to restore $4.9 million stripped from Mayor Donna Deegans proposed operating budget for an affordable housing trust fund, arguing Jacksonville cannot wait for a perfect fiscal climate before putting money back into ownership and rental relief.

Carlucci told a public meeting Tuesday at City Hall that he is not asking members to lock in every program detail by the final budget vote Sept. 22. He wants the dollars preserved in a trust fund so the mayor’s office and council can authorize housing programs when they are ready, Jacksonville Today reported.

“What I’m asking for today is that we preserve the $4.9 million for affordable housing by putting it into an Affordable Housing Trust Fund,” Carlucci said, according to the outlet. “The council can come back then at the appropriate time and look carefully at our housing needs and determine exactly how those dollars can do the most good.”

Why this matters

In August, the councils Finance Committee pulled the $4.9 million from Deegan’s roughly $2 billion operating budget while trying to limit new spending ahead of a possible annual revenue hit of about $300 million if a statewide property tax cut referendum — Amendment 3 — passes Nov. 3.

It was Deegan’s second push for a permanent city fund for for-sale housing. City officials say the trust dollars would support three tracks: down payment assistance (up to 120% of area median income); developer subsidies for attainable housing; and JEA utility tap-in help for low-income homeowners. The other two programs target households at 60% of AMI or below, city Chief Communications Officer Phil Perry told Jacksonville Today.

City Affordable Housing Director Joshua Hicks said demand already outruns current tools. “Those are our teachers, our nurses, our police officers, our firefighters, especially when they’re first getting started in their career,” Hicks said Tuesday, arguing homeownership help can free rental units for others. To meet need, Hicks said Jacksonville requires about 47,000 more units for renters at 50% of AMI or less.

City figures underscore the pressure: about 90,000 Jacksonville renters are cost-burdened, spending more than 30% of income on housing, and more than 42,000 are severely cost-burdened at more than 50%.

The Finance Committee voted 7-1 to remove the funding. Council President Nick Howland cast the seventh vote against keeping it; the only Democrat on the committee, Councilman Rhaman Johnson, voted to retain the $4.9 million. The dollars moved into a public safety contingency account near $23.4 million. Finance Committee Chair Will Lahnen wants roughly $26 million there this cycle for Jacksonville Sheriffs Office capital requests, including headquarters lease buy-down and warehouse consolidation.

Deegan, speaking on WJCT’s First Coast Connect, praised the overall budget hearings as less contentious than last year but rejected the committee’s framing. “If we can’t do everything, we shouldn’t do anything. That’s the argument I heard from the Finance Committee. Well, we wouldn’t get a whole lot done in the city of Jacksonville, she said. Housing, she added, is “top of mind” in Amendment 3 conversations, and the trust fund is one piecemeal way to build affordability.

Lahnen has defended the cut as consistent with “nothing new” budget guidance, saying the trust package bundled three line items the committee has repeatedly declined to fund. He and Howland still call affordable housing a council priority via low-interest development loans.

Carlucci’s amendment needs a majority of members present on Sept. 22 — at least 10 votes if all 19 attend, according to the City Council auditor. Last year he salvaged $900,000 of $2 million stripped from Deegan’s housing dollars. Councilman Jimmy Pelsuo said Tuesday he supports the amendment but doubts $4.9 million will be enough; advocates had pressed Deegan earlier for a $10 million commitment.

The debate arrives weeks after the Jacksonville Growth and Affordability Partnership Fund announced a $20 million private fund aiming to finance about $80 million in affordable multifamily housing a parallel track that does not replace city trust-fund politics.

Budget fights over housing echo civic choices readers follow elsewhere: mayoral accountability fights such as L.A. mayoral debates, municipal runoffs like Bessemers Sept. 22 contest, federal spending patches like stopgap CR funding, and local service trade-offs such as the Lakewood Lincoln Elementary closure vote. In Jacksonville, the near-term question is whether budget night restores a dedicated housing pot before Amendment 3’s November vote.

How Never Late News reported this

This article is based on Jacksonville Today reporting by Mike Mendenhall published Sept. 9, 2026, including attributed comments from Carlucci, Hicks, Deegan, Lahnen, and Perry, plus committee vote tallies, contingency figures, and housing burden statistics as presented by city officials. We did not independently audit Jacksonville’s budget ledgers or AMI program rules.

Primary source: Jacksonville Today on Carlucci’s push to restore the affordable housing fund.

Corrections and reader feedback

Council members, budget staff, or housing advocates with the official Sept. 22 amendment text, contingency ledger detail, or updated AMI eligibility charts may email tips@neverlatenews.com. We will correct misstated vote counts, dollar figures, or program income limits promptly.