'Affordable housing' at forefront of homeless battle in Manatee County

BRADENTON -- The three speakers at a discussion Monday on homelessness agreed that affordable housing tops a priority wish list to combat homelessness in Manatee County, but they admitted they're not sure exactly what that means.

None of the three liked the term "affordable housing," because as Sarasota County Commissioner Carolyn Mason asked, "Affordable to who?"

Mason, along with Turning Points Executive Director Adell Erozer and Salvation Army of Manatee County Program Director Julia Showers, addressed about 50 people at the Bradenton Woman's Club with Manatee League of Women Voters President Rosalie Shaffer introducing the guest speakers.

The discussion, sponsored by the LWV, initially focused on the growing number of women with children who are homeless.

"We are talking about a growing problem that's very difficult to solve," said Shaffer.

From July 2014 through June of 2015, Turning Points had 9,647 people seeking assistance. Of that number, Erozer said 4,939 people were classified as legitimately homeless, including 333 military veterans. Children under the age of 15 represented almost 20 percent of the overall numbers, with females representing almost 48 percent.

Erozer refrains from the word "homeless."

"I have a problem labeling people that," she said. "Once you label someone as homeless, they become something different in people's minds."

She said about half of Manatee County's population is in danger of becoming homeless on a month-to-month basis based on income alone.

"How do we survive in Manatee County on a low income? Studies have shown that it takes $16 to $17 an hour just to survive as a single person," she said.

Erozer said Manatee County is doing nothing to address the creation of affordable housing for struggling families.

"We can't continue to kick the can down the road anymore. There are thousands of developments in Manatee County and none have affordable housing attached to them," she said.

Susie Copeland, president of the Manatee County NAACP, asked why local governments can't add stipulations to developments that would require a certain percentage be put aside as affordable housing.

"The short answer is that we can," said Mason. "It can be easily done. You elect us, you tell us what you want us to do."

Mason said the bigger goal that Sarasota County is starting to figure out is getting all the various agencies and governments on the same page. Mason acknowledged the friction between the county and the city of Sarasota as to where to place homeless services, but the county is making good strides with a cooperative, unified effort.

"Working together will get us where we need to be," she said. "That includes elected officials who need to develop a tool box with a variety of tools to address the many issues we have."

It's not just agencies and elected officials, said Erozer, who noted the ultimate solution is the entire community coming together. As an example, Turning Points receives funding from Manatee County and the city of Bradenton for its Emergency Shelter Grant program that pays private landowners a reduced amount of rent to get struggling people and families into a residence while they recover from a crisis.

"We can't even spend that money in Bradenton because we can't find a single landlord who would accept as much as $800 a month for rent," she said.

Showers said the Salvation Army faces the same challenges and is now having to turn away single homeless women for the sake of providing shelter for children. From June through August of this year, 43 women and children have slept on floors due to a lack of rooms. Showers, too, placed an emphasis on affordable housing but again, she does not like the term.

"I hear developers say that they are building affordable houses in the $100,000's," said Showers. "That's not affordable to someone who gets $500 a month for Social Security. That's not affordable to the single mother with three kids working hard to make $10 an hour."

Mark Young, Herald urban affairs reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7041 or follow him on Twitter@urbanmark2014.

This story was originally published October 12, 2015 at 4:50 PM with the headline "'Affordable housing' at forefront of homeless battle in Manatee County ."