Homeless Services System Working in Sarasota County

Homelessness in our community is trending downward, according to the latest census of homeless individuals in Sarasota and Manatee counties. And the progress follows directly from strategic, community-based efforts to serve the unique needs of different people who experience homelessness here.

That’s one heartening story to emerge from the latest “point in time” (PIT) count done by the Suncoast Partnership to End Homelessness.

The annual survey provides a snapshot of homelessness in our community by counting homeless individuals over a single night—January 28 into 29 this year. While survey volunteers can’t identify every single person who is homeless in the two-county region on that night, the consistent methodology used from year to year offers the best picture possible and a useful way to track local trends in homelessness over time.

Homelessness by the numbers

The overall number of homeless persons surveyed in the two counties this year was 1,135, down nearly 5% from 2018. Within the City of Sarasota, the count was down by 13.7%, while the total number for all of Sarasota County decreased by 8.2%.  

What’s more, those figures represent continued decreases from previous years—the real good news here.

For example, the number of unsheltered street homeless in the region is down 40% since 2016. And among particular groups within the overall count, the number of chronically homeless individuals is down about 21% in just three years, youth homelessness is down more than 31% in that time, and the number of homeless families with children is down by about 14%. 

Helping individuals find permanent homes and increasing their likelihood to remain and thrive in them has taken a true community effort. Public agencies and law enforcement, nonprofit service providers, philanthropists, and many others have worked closely together over several years to transform our system of services and support. Even as the lack of affordable housing in the region forced 559 new individuals into our homeless services system this year, that system is now functioning as it should and still reducing the overall number of unhoused individuals.

In response to the release of the 2019 PIT survey results by Suncoast Partnership CEO Ed DeMarco, Sarasota City Manager Tom Barwin wrote: “On behalf of the City of Sarasota I would like to thank you and the entire Suncoast Partnership network, and especially Jon Thaxton and the Gulf Coast Community Foundation, for the exemplary effort and, more importantly, the dramatic improvement in responding to the challenge of chronic homelessness.”