Jacksonville City Council member says the promise of property grants in exchange for affordable housing downtown 'stinks of corruption,' calls for intense investigation.Jacksonville city land grants to developers in exchange for construction of affordable housing in the city have apparently not been fulfilled, and a City Council member is calling the situation a “huge scandal” that he tried to alert the city to nearly two years ago.More than 170 mostly vacant land parcels primarily in downtown Jacksonville were granted to some developers and others in exchange for the promise that affordable housing would be constructed. An Action News Jax story this month showed out of the 62 entities that were given the land in 2019, only three actually turned the properties into affordable housing developments, according to a city Inspector General’s Office analysis.Jacksonville City Council member Rory Diamond said he tried to raise alarms about the land giveaway program at least a year and a half ago. He told Florida Politics that the land grants have developed into a massive breakdown of government oversight.“Eighteen months ago I blew the whistle on this,” Diamond said.
An Action News Jax story this month showed out of the 62 entities that were given the land in 2019, only three actually turned the properties into affordable housing developments, according to a city Inspector General’s Office analysis.
