Sarasota officials took a conciliatory posture on solutions to homelessness Monday, even as they made clear strong differences remain with county officials on where any sort of shelter facility might be located in the future. City Commissioners said they want staff for the city and county meeting on solutions, and also want to have a joint meeting with county commissioners sometime in the next 60 days to workshop programs amenable to both governments. “We need to listen to both sides, not come back and restate the same thing over and over again,” said Commissioner Suzanne Atwell. 

The city and county have been at an empasse about a come-as-you-are shelter, a chief recommendation of consultant Robert Marbut as a way to address the chronically homeless who cannot stay in other area shelters. Upset at possible locations within the city limits, city officials last year voted to step away from county efforts, and subsequently county action slowed on finding a site for the shelter.

Mayor Willie Shaw stressed Monday that there still were concerns about shelter placement. He held to a city position that “we cannot afford to put more places in areas where the greatest concentration of disparity  exists.” But while the city a few months ago argued against the use of a shelter at all, Shaw seemed to indicate a willingness to discuss locations outside Newtown, and praised a citizen suggestion to use a county-owned building off Fruitville Road east of Interstate-75 as a triage center for the chronically homeless.

And city officials emphasized there needed to be a focus on getting many homeless individuals into homes, a central focus of a "Housing First" philosophy that has seen results in other communities.

A shift in tone clearly was affected by city elections in May. Two new commissioners elected over incumbents resistant to a shelter voiced a need to work together with the county. “We go in with open minds,” said Commissioner Shelli Freeland Eddie. “We need to both go in with the spirit of finding where we have a consensus.”