JUST Pensacola, Justice United Seeking Transformation, held its 5th annual Nehemiah Action Assembly Tuesday night at First Baptist Church of Warrington. Again this year, members of the faith-based, social justice organization secured commitments for action on the pressing issues of affordable rental housing and criminal justice civil citation programs in Pensacola and Escambia County.
The affordable housing crisis has been on the table for JUST Pensacola since 2022. At last year's event, Mayor D.C. Reeves was pressed to take action to address affordable rental housing in the City of Pensacola.
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For 2025, Commissioners Mike Kohler and Steve Stroberger were invited to offer their commitment to addressing the ongoing affordable rental housing crisis in Escambia County.
“We’re asking our commissioners to commit to identifying parcels of land for affordable housing where that can be built through Habitat for Humanity,” said Rev. Joan Wooten from First Presbyterian Church in Pensacola. “Because we have literally thousands of people who cannot afford a rental in this area and it is a crisis.”
To demonstrate the extent of the problem, JUST Pensacola provided statistics from the Florida Housing Data Clearinghouse showing there are now more than 23,000 households that cannot find an affordable place to rent in Escambia County.
“We have people, children that don’t have a place to lay their head,” said Reverend Dr. Deborah Epps from St. Cyprian Episcopal Church, referencing McKinney-Vento Act data that found nearly 2,000 homeless youth in Escambia County.
“We have adult children that had to move back home because they cannot afford a $1,600 rent payment, so they move back home with their parents. It’s just unjust,” Epps declared. “The average single person is making the median of $19 an hour and they have to work 52 hours in order to pay $1,200.”
As members of JUST Pensacola’s Affordable Housing Steering Committee, Epps and Wooten said the specific ask for the commissioners is to identify and place multiple parcels of land from their districts into the Northwest Florida Community Land Trust for affordable rental housing by September 15.
That specific date was chosen because Habitat for Humanity said they’d be ready to build by this fall.
“So, hopefully, we get that 'yes' and we get the parcels of land, so Habitat can start doing the affordable rentals,” said Epps.
JUST Pensacola did get a 'yes' from both Escambia County commissioners. Kohler, who represents District 2, confirmed the process of identifying parcels is already underway.
“We’re on it; we’re committed,” Kohler proclaimed. “And we’re gonna try to make it better. But I think the county is making headway and we’re working very close with Habitat for Humanity.”
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After securing the commitment on affordable rental housing, the Nehemiah Action Assembly shifted to the issue of juvenile and adult civil citations and the call for more action from State Attorney Ginger Bowden Madden.
“A couple of years ago, after the state attorney first started, we were doing really well in bringing up the number of youth who qualified for civil citation and were actually given one,” said Rev. Dr. Rick Branch, Sr. Pastor, First United Methodist Church of Pensacola, who serves on JUST Pensacola’s Criminal Justice Steering Committee.
But the issue is back on the table, because in the past couple of years, the utilization of the pre-arrest diversion program for non-violent misdemeanors has started to go down again, falling way short of their goals.
“We’ve been trying all along to get 80% of youth who qualifies for civil citation to be offered one and we got up to almost 70% (67%) a few years ago. But, it’s back down into the 30% margin (36%) right now,” Branch explained. “So, our goal tonight, with juvenile civil citations, is to get her to agree to work with all the agencies to bring that number back up and keep it moving up.”
There’s also room for improvement with the new civil citation program, begun in 2024, aimed at keeping adults out of jail.
“The last data we had was 17, I believe, and we would love to see those numbers increase greatly,” added Dr. Paul Blackmon, Sr. Pastor of First Baptist Church of Ferry Pass. “We’re talking about misdemeanors, non-violent offenses, mostly driving offenses, driving without a license, driving with an expired tag, things of that nature. So our state attorney did agree that she would start a program and she did. However, it has not been used very much.”
In terms of their “asks” of State Attorney Madden, again, JUST Pensacola was very specific.
First, they asked if Madden would provide civil citation training for law enforcement officers by August 4.
The state attorney acknowledged that the Pensacola Police Department and Escambia County Sheriff’s Office have responded positively to her offer of officer training and confirmed that it could be accomplished in the specified timeframe. But she added it’s totally up to them.
“If they don’t want us, then we cannot do it,” said Madden. “If they do, then we are committed to providing that training. I want it understood, I can’t tell them what to do. They can ask me to lead them through the back door if they want to.”
“That sounds like, ‘Yes, I will provide the training,’” Rev. Blackman responded to cheers.
Madden also agreed to the request to provide quarterly data on adult and juvenile civil citation usage.
On the call to provide the reason for failure to issue civil citations, Madden noted that local law enforcement agencies, which have the discretion to issue them, would be a better source for such information.
On the final request to include JUST Pensacola in her office’s ongoing quarterly meetings with local law enforcement officials to review civil citation data and plan improved usage, Madden said she couldn’t commit, personally. But she offered a compromise.
“I will commit to making a senior staff member available to you quarterly to discuss the program,” stated Madden.
“Thank you,” said Blackmon.
