This Thursday, I had the privilege of attending the groundbreaking ceremony for Sarasota Station, a remarkable workforce housing project two decades in the making by One Stop Housing (OSH).

Located on the edge of downtown, Sarasota Station will deliver 202 units of workforce housing to our community. As our first Live Local Act project to break ground, it represents an extraordinary collaboration between a company with a longstanding commitment to workforce housing, multiple levels of government, and several local foundations.

This milestone merits recognition for the State's Live Local Act. For years, local barriers and government resistance to affordable housing stalled this project. OSH CEO Mark Vengroff is the second generation to champion this development. His father, Harvey Vengroff, faced significant opposition from NIMBY-minded local governments.

Fortunately, the climate within our city and county government has evolved. This project secured funding through Resilient SRQ, a HUD-administered program utilizing federal dollars to address impacts from our 2022 and 2024 hurricanes. The County Commission voted to allocate Hurricane Ian recovery funds to support this initiative.

The groundbreaking ceremony was particularly moving as Mark acknowledged the many individuals who contributed to making this project a reality. I first met Mark through the Leadership Florida program shortly after he assumed leadership of OSH following Harvey's passing.

I had known that Harvey was close friends with my predecessor at Argus, the late former Sarasota Mayor Kerry Kirschner. Both were deeply frustrated by the government opposition to workforce housing during their time. It feels fitting that the next generation of our respective organizations would connect through a leadership development program.

Mark, who had recently relocated from California, quickly demonstrated his commitment to making a meaningful impact in our community. Following introductions to key stakeholders, he outlined the vision for the units now under construction.

Today, several important affordable housing providers operate under different models in our community. Community Assisted & Supportive Living (CASL) is another organization actively building locally. These are exemplary organizations working to address our community's critical housing needs.

Reflecting on this groundbreaking, I imagine Harvey and Kerry looking down with pride as Mark brings to fruition what Harvey began. Congratulations to OSH and to our entire community, not only for the workforce housing, but for working together to make it happen.

Christine Robinson is the Executive Director of The Argus Foundation.