City moves toward reallocating homeless shelter funds

At a meeting Monday, the Sarasota City Commission took a first step toward reallocating money originally slated for the construction of a homeless shelter.

Although the commission agreed to repurpose $289,054 in Community Development Building Grant funding earmarked for a shelter, it was divided on how that money should be spent.

In a 3-2 vote, the board agreed to advertise a potential budget change that, if approved, would dedicate all of that money toward a different chronic homelessness solution: the creation of permanent supportive housing. After ending the joint pursuit of a shelter with the county, the city has focused on establishing a “housing first” program to address homelessness.

Staff had proposed allocating that money for two different projects: $137,554 toward a housing first pilot project, and $151,400 for the design of improvements at Fredd “Glossie” Atkins Park, located at U.S. 301 and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Way.

City Commissioner Shelli Freeland Eddie said she thought steering money away from homelessness solutions would send the wrong message in advance of a Nov. 6 joint meeting with the County Commission.

"I think it’s inappropriate and sends an inconsistent message for us to move dollars from housing and homelessness initiatives." — Shelli Freeland Eddie

“We’re two weeks out from a joint meeting with the County Commission where we are going to have a substantive discussion, hopefully, about what resources we both bring to the table as municipalities, in terms of how we’d like to see housing funded,” Eddie said. “I just think it’s inappropriate and sends an inconsistent message for us to move dollars from housing and homelessness initiatives.”

Mayor Willie Shaw pointed out that the conditions under which the money had originally been earmarked were no longer applicable. In July 2013, the city set the grant funding aside with the stipulation that the location and size of a shelter would be determined by the end of the year.

“It was a placeholder,” Shaw said. “It is now free money.”

Although Shaw and Vice Mayor Suzanne Atwell supported the staff recommendation, the rest of the commission voted to dedicate the entirety of the $289,054 toward the creation of permanent supportive housing.

If unspent by Aug. 2 of this year, city staff said, the grant funds could be lost forever. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development requires a city have no more than 1.5 times its annual allocation of CDBG money in reserve each year.