United Way of Northeast Florida and partners briefed the Jacksonville City Council Neighborhoods Committee on the Jacksonville Eviction Diversion Program on Oct. 20, saying the program has kept the majority of participants in their homes.

The program, initiated through the council's Community Quality of Life Initiative and led by Councilman Michael Boylan and Councilman Freeman, has served 383 families through September 2025, Melanie Patz, president and CEO of United Way of Northeast Florida, told the committee. "Eighty-four percent of the families remain stably housed six months after participating," Patz said.

Why it matters: Committee members said preventing evictions reduces downstream costs for homelessness services and public-safety responses. The program pairs case management with legal screening and landlord consent to direct payments to landlords, partners said, and city and federal dollars have supported the effort.

What partners told the committee

Patz said initial 2024 funding came from city council action, and funding for 2025 and 2026 came from mayoral transitional funding; she called the dollars federal in origin. She described program rules: landlords must consent to tenant participation, payments go to landlords, and Jewish Family & Community Services performs due diligence. "If Jewish Family and Community Services team members identify potential fraud, they provide details to Jacksonville Area Legal Aid who reviews the situations and then provides a report that goes to the city of Jacksonville, the sheriff's office, and the state attorney's office," Patz said. "To this point, there have been no fraudulent payments to our knowledge."

Judge Michelle Khalil, who helped implement the court-side triage, told the committee the program is among the most effective she has seen. "The numbers speak for themselves," she said, adding that court-based intervention catches cases after a notice or filing and steers qualifying tenants to the program.

Jacksonville Area Legal Aid's Jim Kowalski and Jewish Family & Community Services' Colleen Rodriguez explained legal and intake procedures. Kowalski described clinics and pro bono support that help tenants notify landlords of habitability issues under Florida law; Rodriguez said the partnership resolves landlord-tenant maintenance disputes as part of triage.

Funding, outcomes and limits

Committee members asked about costs and recoupment. Patz and partners said roughly $3 million has been appropriated for the program to date, with spending of about $1.8 million so far (roughly $1 million per year). Patz described an estimated $5.2 million return-on-investment if families had become homeless and required broader services. The partners said assistance is intended to be one-time stabilization support, not ongoing rental subsidy; the payment goes out and is not recouped by the program.

Partners also said program capacity is smaller than need. Council members were told that at least several hundred eviction filings occur monthly in Duval County and that the program is not currently meeting the full need.

Council response and next steps

Council members praised the program and asked for additional data on landlord-tenant maintenance claims, frequency of repeated assistance, and total cost. The administration said the mayor's office intends to include funding for continuation in its Fiscal Year 2027 proposed budget; any extension will require council approval. Committee members asked partners to return with more detailed metrics and cost breakdowns.

The committee took no formal vote on the program; presenters remained available for follow-up questions and data requests.

Ending: Council members and presenters agreed the eviction diversion model reduces evictions and asked the partners to provide additional data on landlord-tenant maintenance issues, the count of repeated participants, and a detailed budget and funding plan for review before full council consideration of 2027 appropriations.