JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Neighbors on Jacksonville’s Westside are upset about a plan to create housing for the homeless and other at-risk people.
Some believe it will bring crime into their community. Action News spoke with that housing group's director who said their fears are unfounded.
Shannon Nazworth, executive director Of Ability Housing Of Northeast Florida, said their projects are meant to break the cycle of homelessness and reduce crime, not the opposite. But neighbors disagree and there's not much they can do right now because work on the facility has already started just off of Wiley Road.
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Christian Benz has lived on Wylie Road since the '90s. It's the only place he calls home. But soon his neighborhood will be changed in a major way.
"We feel this is just being crammed down our throat," Benz said.
He's referring to the Village on Wylie project. Soon, this vacant piece of land will house an apartment community for people who don't have a home.
"One of our goals for that project is to work with the area hospitals to target people who don't have housing or are very unstably housed and are cycling through the hospitals the most," said Nazworth.
Benz worries the community will only bring problems.
"We've got a school yard right around, I mean within a 100 yards of a school, we've got kids that are walking up and down the street in what capacity are these people going to be," Benz said.
But Nazworth said they won't house just anyone.
"We owe it to our residents that the housing we are building is high quality and stable housing and that there aren't activities going on that aren't appropriate," she said.
But Benz and other neighbors said they feel like their hands are tied they want to know just one thing.
"Why my neighborhood?" Benz asked.
Ability Housing said they will have security systems in place and have a zero-tolerance policy. But Benz said that's not enough. He's now worried his property values will drop and on top of that, he'll be installing surveillance cameras.
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