Like many regions of the United States, the Gulf Coast of Florida suffers from a dearth of affordable housing. One demographic is particularly vulnerable – veterans. Many veterans are unable to afford the high cost of housing and may find themselves homeless as a result. Peter Soderberg shared, “Our veterans need us now more than ever. Having spent years of their lives fighting for others, it is time for our community to fight for them. Homeless veteran’s often face many barriers to normalcy including mental-health and physical conditions, with the barrier of housing removed they can focus on their own well-being.”

The Gulf Coast Community Foundation (Gulf Coast) is leading an effort to provide safe transitional housing for veterans. The Elsa & Peter Soderberg Charitable Foundation and philanthropist Skip Sack provided the first catalytic gift(s) turning this vision into reality.

Gulf Coast partnered with the Office of Housing & Community Development to leverage $400,000 public dollars they had available to support veteran housing. Together, they identified potential parcels of vacant, city-owned land and began the process to identify an agency to manage the housing and provide wrap-around services. Key to this project’s success was the donation of the land by the City of Sarasota. St Vincent de Paul CARES was selected to manage the project as a nonprofit with a successful track record of building and operating affordable housing for veterans.

This is Sarasota’s first veterans focused affordable housing project. The project includes a two-story, multi-family apartment building with a total of 10 two bedroom units. St. Vincent de Paul is overseeing the building of the project in addition to managing the housing. The donation of the land by the City of Sarasota greatly reduced the cost of this resulting in a more affordable housing product for the veterans.

When the Sarasota City Commission unanimously approved the project, they acknowledged and applauded the collaboration and intentionality behind the proposal. The project is expected to break ground in early fall 2023.