JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - A sprawling complex created to serve homeless women and families in Jacksonville is nearing completion.
Tenants will begin moving into Sulzbacher Village in June.
The village contains 70 permanent housing units that can accommodate a total of 310 single women, female veterans and single- or two-parent families. An additional 30 units will provide short-term emergency housing and medical respite.
“We wanted [the women and families] to be in more of a neighborhood environment,” Eileen Briggs, chief development officer with Sulzbacher Center, said. “A place where they could really work on whatever the obstacles are that are keeping them in a homeless situation.”
The $21 million project is funded through a combination of low-income tax credits and donations.
“The fastest growing population of homelessness are women with families,” Briggs said. Briggs said a typical family served by the Sulzbacher Center is a single mother with two children. Often times the women don’t have high school diplomas or GEDs, Briggs added.
“Jacksonville is a very booming city right now, the job market is good,” Briggs said, outlining how lack of affordable housing contributes to homelessness. “So what happens is, those people that have the lower wage jobs really get pushed out of the housing market.”
In addition to the housing units. Sulzbacher Village has an on-site therapeutic early learning center, healthcare services, female veterans wing, job training and job placement. The pediatric clinic will not only serve children who live in Sulzbacher Village, but children in the surrounding Brentwood community.
“We have a full commercial kitchen here,” Briggs said. “And we’ll be able to do training programs within the commercial kitchen and other areas so that these women can really get not just a minimum wage job but really a living wage job so they can support their families.”
There will be a ribbon cutting and open house at Sulzbacher Village May 24. Once Sulzbacher Village opens, the existing center downtown will remain open serving single men and providing a community food line and adult medical care.