Manatee commissioner leads way to turn MCSO building into transitional housing for those facing homelessness
BRADENTON, Fla. - A building that once housed inmates will soon be a space for families who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.
Manatee County Commissioner Amanda Ballard is leading the efforts to transform the Manatee County Sheriff’s District Two office into transitional housing.
"When I walked through the space, I was immediately excited because, number one, we have the administrative space for wraparound services right there in place," Ballard said. "Number two, I was really excited by the fact that this had been a residential facility in the past. So, we already have things in place like bathrooms. We already have living spaces laid out to some extent."
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The sheriff’s office is moving out of the space to a building with more room by the end of the year and Ballard, a former child welfare attorney, said she noticed a need for a transitional housing complex for families in Manatee.
"This kind of fell into our lap about four or five months ago, and immediately we started trying to get the funding for the project, trying to get other commissioners to vote for it. And we were very, very lucky to have full support for the commission. And we've gotten about $600,000 to rehab the building as our initial investment," Ballard said.
Ballard and Manatee County Administrator Charlie Bishop have been giving weekly tours of the building to non-profits and other groups, asking for help with ideas for the space and help with funding.
"Our goal is not to tear down walls or rebuild this thing completely," Bishop told the group on tour Wednesday. "We don’t have the budget for it. We appreciate it as an as is. We’ll do slight modifications."
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"There are things that are necessary to get this place open and running. We know we can do that with the funding that we have. But there are things that we would love to do, like community gardens and playgrounds for the kids that maybe aren't in the budget right now. And, you know, we may have to phase along later," Ballard said.
She said they hope to help dozens of families and accommodate about 100 people at a time. Families will stay in the shelter for about three to four months. They’ll also have several services onsite like mental health therapy, employment help and healthcare assistance.
"A lot of that hard infrastructure is already there, the bones of it. We just need to give it some love and rehab it to make it up to today's standards. If we were to do this from scratch with a brand new building, it would take years and years and years and many tens of millions of dollars. So, we are just so lucky and thankful that this space became available for us," Ballard said.
Ballard said the school district estimates that about 1,000 students are homeless.
"This is an absolutely huge need in Manatee County with the price of housing being what it is right now. We have regular families who are working full time who are in danger of losing housing, and they just need a little bit of a hand up. And I think that providing all of those services under one roof is going to be hugely important to helping those families get back on their feet," she said.
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Ballard hopes to have one or two families moved in by Christmas.
"Obviously, we know that we will not be at full operational capacity by that point, but if we can give a couple of kids and families a happy Christmas, that that would be our goal for sure," Ballard said.
By the end of the month, they plan to choose a non-profit that will act as the site’s operator, and will also come up with an application process for families.