Economic Impacts

In addition to helping those in need, our efforts help the communities where these initiatives are directed.

Construction and Rehab spending creates:

  1. Economic output (spending and economic activity)
  2. Earning of Income
  3. Employment

Economic Impact of Supportive Housing specifically in Jacksonville, FL

According to research completed by the Bay Area Economics for the Corporation for Supportive Housing (CSH) that used RIMS II to estimate the economic impact of supportive housing in Jacksonville, Florida, there is a direct and positive impact on the local economy. To view the article in its entirety or to learn more about supportive housing in general, please visit www.csh.org.

Beyond the construction arena, there is an economic impact on other industries by increasing the spending and jobs in the community. Construction creates an increase in demand for city planners, materials to build, architects, construction workers and real estate professionals, etc.

For each $1.00 spent in the Construction Sector there is a generation of spending in 20 other sectors, to provide an example, for every $1.00 spent in the Construction Sector there is:

  • $0.16 spent in Manufacturing Sector
  • $0.12 spent in Rental, Real Estate, and Leasing Sector
  • $0.11 spent in spent in Retail Sector
  • $0.11 Professional, Financial and Technical Services Sector

Using these economic output multipliers, if there is $27,685,000 dollars spent to rehab and construct 565 units, Duval County would likely benefit from the following:

  • $4,430,000 spent in the Manufacturing Sector,
  • $3,236,000 spent in the Real Estate, Rental and Leasing Sector,
  • $3,181,000 spent in the Retail Trade Sector, and
  • $2,921,000 spent in the Professional, Financial and Technical Services Sector.

Further impact for Duval County of producing supportive housing:

Homeless individuals move off the streets and retail districts become more appealing to potential new businesses and residents. Individuals that were homeless move into housing with ameliorated access to supports and services such as employment and health. When people have employment, there is less strain on government expenditures for public safety and health systems (BAE report). Furthermore, research by the Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy of NYU finds that the values of properties demonstrate growth and progressively increase in neighborhoods with supportive housing (November 2008).

Ability Housing has two substantial rehabilitation projects in pre-development; the total direct construction expenditure budget for the two projects is $8 million – using #’s above

= $1,280,000 direct economic impact on Manufacturing Sector
= $960,000 direct economic impact on Rental, Real Estate, and Leasing Sector
= $880,000 direct economic impact on spent in Retail Sector
= $880,000 direct economic impact on Professional, Financial and Technical Services Sector