NORTHEAST REGION
$500,000 FCLF LOAN
14 affordable rental homes
“We couldn’t have pulled this project together without FCLF as partners. I am hoping this is the start of some great work in Jacksonville’s historic Springfield district.” ‒ Kevin Gay, Executive Director
In Jacksonville’s historic Springfield neighborhood, what was once an old motel had become an abandoned, unsafe property. With a vision of rebuilding lives and communities, Operation New Hope will replace this building with Dozier Apartments, offering 14 new, safe apartments at affordable rents.
Operation New Hope (ONH) works to renew the urban areas of Historic Springfield and East Jacksonville through a multi-disciplinary approach to community development, which includes new home construction and social services. Over more than 10 years, ONH has built or renovated 85 homes, many of which were foreclosed and abandoned. The organization also offers counseling and education to ex-offenders to support their re-entry into the community and workforce through its nationally acclaimed Ready4Work Program.
With a $500,000 loan from Florida Community Loan Fund, Operation New Hope will develop 14 new affordable apartment homes on the site of the formerly abandoned motor lodge. Six of these apartments will be reserved for very low-income households – those making less than 50% of the area median income. The remaining 8 units will be available to low- and moderate-income households. Additional funding comes from the City of Jacksonville and other sources. Located along a significant commercial corridor with easy transportation to jobs and local medical facilities, including UF Health, one of the area’s major employers, Dozier Apartments began construction in late 2015 and opened in 2017.
Dozier Apartments is named in honor of Henrietta Dozier, the city's first female architect. She was a pioneer in the field of architecture; an 1899 graduate from MIT and early advocate for sustainable affordable housing. In 1939 – well ahead of her time – she believed that an energy-efficient, vermin-resistant, comparatively inexpensive form of housing was right for the Southern climate and would eventually catch on.
Learn more about FCLF and Operation New Hope in this video.
View more photos of Operation New Hope on FCLF's Flickr Page. Pictured: this old abandoned motor lodge building was replaced with Dozier Apartments (architectural rendering).
