County takes steps to reduce homelessness

Sarasota County law enforcement will soon have the ability to take people living in public parks to a shelter after the County Commission voted Tuesday to approve its Quality of Life Ordinance.

“It’s hard to believe that after many years of this issue, it basically comes down to a very quiet public hearing,” Commission Chair Paul Caragiulo said.

Commissioner Charles Hines agreed, adding that the discussion and public hearings, which included no speakers from the public, “always seem to become anticlimactic when we get to this point.”

The Quality of Life Ordinance puts stricter regulations on camping in parks and defines criteria for law enforcement to move people to a shelter. It requires the county offer a place for the person a place to store their belongings and present them a written explanation that shelter beds are free, do  not require sobriety or enrollment in programs, is always available and that transportation to the shelter is free.

“This is the tool that we’ve been missing to move our community from what has been described as an enabling community — enabling homelessness,” Hines said.

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Officials will begin enforcing the ordinance in March, after deputies and county staffers are trained. The county will also ask that municipalities in Sarasota County pass the same ordinance or something similar.

The city of Sarasota passed a similar ordinance several years ago, which resulted in a lawsuit from the American Civil Liberties Union. As a result, the city was required to have shelter beds available before it could enforce the ordinance.

To meet the same standard, the county Tuesday also approved a contract with the Salvation Army for $272,600 to provide shelter space. Ten beds will be available at first, said county Homeless Services Director Wayne Applebee, and the contract allows for expansion up to 30 beds.

The county also approved an almost $200,000 contract with the Suncoast Partnership to End Homelessness, which was selected as the lead organization in the area’s homeless response system in Sarasota and Manatee counties. The Suncoast Partnership will begin implementing One by One, a coordinated entry system that matches homeless people to services that they need.

While the county is contributing $194,000, the city of Sarasota is contributing $82,000 and associated foundations are collectively contributing $164,000.

Applebee explained that, although the county is contributing a large sum, about $1.27 million was brought in for 2017 in grants and other funds, and about 73% of that is going to help Sarasota County residents.

Commissioners passed each of the motions regarding homeless services unanimously.