ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. — A newly proposed affordable housing project is set to come to St. Johns County, with 52 townhomes planned on the site located just off Pacetti Road and Terracina Drive in World Golf Village, 16 of which will be reserved for workforce housing.
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The project addresses a vital need in St. Johns County: the high cost of housing.
“[It’s] much more expensive than where I come from, which is upstate New York,” Jerri Stead told Action News Jax.
“I know it’s expensive because I know that my son and my daughter and their friends, they’d love to live here, but how can they?,” pointed out St. Johns County neighbor Tricia McElhone.
According to a report from the St. Johns County Chamber of Commerce, only three percent of available rental units across the county are estimated to be within the affordable rent range of the average St. Johns County law enforcement officer or teacher.
Trisha McElhone is a retired St. Johns County teacher & counselor herself and told Action News Jax that housing costs are a major issue that needs to be addressed.
“If you look at what’s happening in the county with teachers, they’re not gonna be able to stay,” McElhone said. “The quality of life for us isn’t great.”
Affordable housing like that proposed in the new World Golf Village development, in McElhone’s opinion, is the best path forward to fixing the housing cost crisis in Saint Johns.
Action News Jax will keep you updated as we learn more about the proposed timeline & details of the World Golf Village project.
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