Pensacola's CRA is moving into affordable housing, at least at the small scale.
The Pensacola Community Redevelopment Agency approved a new Affordable Housing Small-Scale Rental Development Pilot Program at its April 6 meeting, along with a Request for Qualifications for program development, underwriting and compliance monitoring services.
The pilot targets small affordable rental housing projects within the CRA's nine redevelopment districts, covering neighborhoods including Barrancas, Brownsville, Englewood, Ensley, Palafox, Warrington and others across roughly 25 square miles.
Affordable rental housing has been a persistent gap in the Pensacola market. Land and construction costs have made it difficult for private developers to build smaller projects at rents accessible to working families without public support. Specific program terms, subsidy levels, income targets, unit thresholds, were not detailed in the posted agenda. The RFQ procurement process moves forward now to select a program administrator.