Tiny home community for homeless veterans could be in the works in Manatee County

A tiny home community for homeless veterans could be in the works in Manatee County, where local officials continue to balance a desire to address homelessness in the community with concern about potential adverse impacts.

Officials in Manatee County and the city have discussed concern about growing homelessness issues near downtown Bradenton — an area where they want to encourage more vertical development and investment — and have voiced intentions to consider an overnight camping ban.

Because the urban core is also where most nonprofits help the homeless community, officials worry those services draw additional homeless residents to the area.

"The plan is to provide housing for the homeless, period," Commissioner Jason Bearden told the Herald-Tribune. "There are a lot of areas where they are just sleeping, they are camping out on people's land or things like that. So our solution to that is maybe we need to create a bed for them, or somewhere they can go because honestly, that's the reason why they're sleeping in a field."

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Bearden is spearheading a proposal to build a tiny home community on about 8 acres of available land behind a planned veteran's memorial park on a 24-acre county-owned property Buckeye Road, east of the former Piney Point fertilizer plant.

The property is located near employment hubs such as SeaPort Manatee, nearby distribution centers, and manufacturing and development project sites.

"It's not just about the housing," Bearden said. "You want to get these guys employed. You want to get these guys their benefits. There are a lot of veterans that struggle with that, so that's why we're going to make it that in Manatee County, we can take care of those veterans."

Bearden said he also intends to pitch a Transitional Assistance Program to help veterans transition out of homelessness.

He said the county could partner with organizations such as those involved in a similar effort in Sarasota's Newtown community. There St. Petersburg-based nonprofit St. Vincent de Paul CARES and funding partners like the Gulf Coast Community Foundation plan to build 10 apartment units on land conveyed by the City of Sarasota in January 2022.

"They are about to put a shovel in the ground in the next six months," Bearden said. "So I reached out to them and they were kind of excited at this idea as well, and maybe even do like a joint partnership with them in regards to this particular project."

The proposal was made after commissioners tabled another proposal in August to offer county-owned property to Tunnel to Towers Foundation at 4410 66th Street West off of Cortez Road for a homeless veteran's affordable housing project. Commissioners tabled the decision and have not yet brought the matter back for reconsideration, but addressed the project on Tuesday during a discussion of the new proposal.

Chairman Kevin Van Ostenbridge has voiced concern that the allure of services for the homeless could cause an issue for neighboring communities. He said that he aims to narrow the scope to specifically aid homeless Manatee County residents and that the housing also be made available to all female veterans and veterans with families.

"I struggle with asking Manatee County taxpayers to fund folks from outside of Manatee County, so that's really my only two things with Tunnels to Towers that I'm down to," Van Ostenbridge said. "I just want to make sure that Manatee County veterans are who is housed in the location."

Commissioner Mike Rahn, who is also a military veteran, agreed equal opportunity for housing should be kept in mind with housing for the homeless.

"My only comments about the Cortez site, which I still like and I still like Tunnel for Towers, is women veterans deserve the same equal opportunity to have housing, and so do families, veteran families that are homeless," Rahn said. "I feel strongly about that. We need to give all of our veterans an opportunity to have great housing. Be able to put their lives back together and become active members of society."

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Tiny home community for homeless veterans proposed in Manatee County