50% of proposed workforce housing project to be set aside for Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office

SARASOTA, Fla. (WFLA) — On the edge of Downtown Sarasota, there’s an empty grass lot on School Avenue just south of the county health department. That lot could one day become a new workforce housing project.

In collaboration with realtor Michael Saunders, One Stop Housing is planning to build a 48-unit mixed-use development on the site. We are told 100% of the housing is slated to be available as workforce housing with rental rates at or below 80% of the area median income.

Managing Partner of One Stop Housing Mark Vengroff tells 8 On Your Side the collaboration came about organically when he was discussing the need for more workforce housing to a small business group. He says local business owner and realtor Michael Saunders happened to be sitting in that crowd.

“He approached me after the engagement says, ‘I have this piece of land I would like to contribute to give back to the community that has been so kind to me and that has helped my business so much. I don’t want to sell it. I want to contribute it to create some workforce housing, can you help me do that?’ And I said absolutely, I’m in,” said Vengroff.

Through a mutual connection, Vengroff was put in touch with Sarasota County Sheriff Kurt Hoffman, who he was told had a great interest in workforce housing for his staff.

“There are some agencies around here in Southwest Florida that are down 40, 50, 60 law-enforcement personnel in their agency and fortunately, we are not at those kind of numbers, but when that happens, there’s an impact on policing, there’s an impact on community safety,” said Sheriff Hoffman. “When I say community safety, it is not just patrol folks. We’ve got 110 dispatchers that take over 600,000 calls a year protecting this community, so after a 12-hour shift, they need to have a place to lay their head as well,” he continued.

“Sheriff Hoffman really explained his plight with the officers and they do so much every day to put their lives on the line, the least we can do is really get out there, and really try to make this happen,” said Vengroff.

He says he brought the idea of setting aside a percentage of the workforce housing for sheriff’s office employees to Saunders and she agreed. They plan to set aside half of the units for both sworn and civilian employees.

The property sits within walking distance of the jail, courthouse, and public transit options.

One Stop Housing’s mission is to provide affordable housing for the community. Vengroff said this project will be exactly that.

“We are going to agree to a 30-year affordability. For as long as Michael Saunders will own the property or as long as we are managing it, we know we are going to keep it affordable because that is just our mission,” said Vengroff.

Sheriff Hoffman says this project will not fix the affordable housing crisis, but believes it is a good first step that will have a meaningful impact and hopefully inspire other developers.

“I think Mark has got a really good model and I am hoping that others will see that you don’t have to always make every single dollar you can make. If there is a community enhancement or a value in what you are doing like what Mark is doing, maybe some other folks think twice about it and want to do the same,” said Sheriff Hoffman.

The project needs to go before the city commission for approval. Vengroff says if all goes as planned, residents can start moving in within about two and a half years.

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