Harvey Vengroff is a Sarasota developer

Dr. [Robert] Marbut gave the City of Sarasota failing grades for helping the homeless! 

I think it is even worse because the city either can’t afford to or just doesn’t want to help those that are less fortunate. [City Manager] Tom Barwin’s plan would create a large shelter costing the city about $7 million and another one and a half million per year to operate.  If the city did spend that much of our tax dollars, they would only warehouse families for a period of 10 weeks and then throw them back on the street.

Our program is much better! We purchase older motels, convert them into studio apartments and allow the many charities to house these families for $575/month including utilities. While they are residents we teach them how to dress and act for job interviews. People living in our buildings must seek a job unless they are seniors or disabled. The goal is to have these families move on to larger apartments within six months.  The other major difference is we seek no public funds and pay property tax.

We are currently seeking permission to build up to 700 affordable apartments (one to three bedrooms renting for $600-$800/month) at Fruitville Road and School Avenue. Families moving from the studio apartments could move to these larger but still affordable apartments close to downtown and public transportation. These apartments would also pay property tax of around $450,000 per year.

Harvey Vengroff is a Sarasota developer