The Gainesville City Commission approved local government funding for a 96-unit affordable housing development and decided to sell the 27-acre GRACE Marketplace campus to the nonprofit.
Commissioners also voted to wait until next year to finalize a date to start a permanent city manager search following the resignation of City Manager Cynthia Curry. The commission will discuss the search again in March. The commission appointed Andrew Persons to work as interim city manager.
A 96-unit development, called Hope @ Debra Heights and managed by Catholic Charities, received the green light from the commission to use a $460,000 loan from the city. But the primary purpose of the loan isn’t the money itself.
Instead, Catholic Charities can now use the loan to increase its shot at earning federal dollars to fund the $30 million project.
The development wants to earn Low-Income Housing Tax Credit funding administered by states for the federal government. Florida prioritizes projects that have local government funding in the mix.
Because of this, three different projects applied to receive Gainesville’s loan and then apply and hope to earn the state’s financing.
Hope @ Debra Heights was recommended by the Affordable Housing Advisory Committee, and the project has been before the City Commission in a different way. In 2024, commissioners approved a new land use and zoning for the 6-acre property (2001 NE 2nd Street) to allow the development.
The plan is to integrate the affordable housing, set for 40% to 70% of area median income, with Catholic Charities wraparound services. The project will have 1-, 2- and 3-bedroom apartments that work for elderly individuals or families.
Hope @ Debra Heights also received permission to use the $460,000 as a local match in 2024 but failed to receive the state award.
Commissioner Casey Willits, who is also on the affordable housing committee, said the committee meeting asked a lot of questions of developers. He noted that the Royal Park Senior Apartments project would do a better job of spreading Gainesville affordable housing toward the west.
But Willits said the biggest differentiator to him was unit size.
“The opportunity to have three bedrooms in affordable units was important to me,” Willits said.
He said the 3-bedroom units at Hope @ Debra Heights, versus two senior living developments, stuck out, saying the city needs affordable family units.
With federal funding, the project will rumble forward through any challenges to the state’s decision, underwriting, permitting and construction. If the project application isn’t selected, the $460,000 would stay with the city of Gainesville, as it did last year.
The application for Hope @ Debra Heights said that without the federal funds the project will be unlikely to proceed.
For GRACE Marketplace, the city currently owns the land underneath the homeless shelter, along with partial additional property adjacent to it. Gainesville pays for repairs and maintenance, but with the sale, those costs would shift to the nonprofit.
The sale would be for $1. But the contract would require the property to only be used as a homeless shelter and for other continuum of care services. If the nonprofit ever wanted to change the property use, the land would return to the city of Gainesville.
Gainesville continues to fund a large portion of GRACE Marketplace’s budget, around 36%, but Mayor Harvey Ward pointed out that the city’s contribution forms a much smaller share of the overall budget than when the shelter first opened.
Additional property in the area will allow GRACE to expand services, with a healthcare project in the works.