Gulf Coast Community Foundation’s Veterans Housing Program

By Tom Reese | April 2025

Gulf Coast Community Foundation and its donors and partners have been tackling areas of need and supporting causes in our region since 1995. Among its many vital programs is its Veterans Housing Initiative (Heroes’ Village).  This important initiative has taken one massive step forward in providing affordable and permanent housing for veterans struggling with homelessness in Sarasota. 

Veterans are the foundation of this country. They have dedicated their lives for our freedom. The importance of caring for military heroes is deeply recognized at Gulf Coast, which is committed to ensuring that no one is left behind. As of today, there are over 100 veterans in Sarasota that are currently struggling with housing crises. While a strong network of veteran service organizations exists in the community, very few provide housing assistance.

Peter Soderberg, of the Peter and Elsa Soderberg Charitable Foundation, and Skip Sack, of the Sack Family Foundation, were the original donors who collaborated with Gulf Coast on the idea of a veterans housing project. They provided the first $400,000 to make this project a reality. Gulf Coast then partnered with the Office of Housing and Community Development to leverage an additional $400,000 in public funding to support the project.

“When I created our family foundation in 1994, our primary areas of focus were feeding the hungry and helping the homeless,” said Skip Sack. “I was shocked to learn how many homeless veterans are here in Sarasota. As soon as Gulf Coast contacted me with this idea, I was immediately on board.”

Peter Soderberg serves on the Board of Directors for Gulf Coast while maintaining his family foundation with his wife Elsa, which operates regionally, nationally, and internationally in over eight countries.

“We look for worthy opportunities that have the chance to blossom and succeed in not only the initial pilot stage, but sustained success down the road,” said Peter. “One of our main areas of concern is veterans’ wellbeing. Gulf Coast introduced us to Skip Sack and Jon Thaxton, and we began looking for a public-private partnership to start this initiative.” 

Jon Thaxton, Director of Policy and Advocacy at Gulf Coast, spearheaded this project and the search for land to begin building Heroes’ Village, the first affordable housing structure for veterans in Sarasota.

Jon has been an advocate for affordable housing projects for much of his adult life, starting his career in real estate at the age of 18. Several of his early clients were veterans looking to purchase homes with their VA Home Loans, which many Realtors choose not to work with. 

“I became so inspired by working with these veterans to get stable housing and build equity for their families,” said Jon. “Those early years really motivated me to continue to fight for affordable housing for everyone, especially military veterans.”

As Jon began the process to make Heroes’ Village a reality, he worked closely with the Office of Housing and Community Development to find a parcel of land that was already designated to be used for affordable housing. Together, they convinced the City of Sarasota to donate the land for the cause. St. Vincent de Paul CARES was chosen to manage the property because of previous success in building and managing affordable housing for veterans.

In October 2023, shovels entered the ground, and they began building a complex that holds 10 two-bedroom units that can be co-occupied. Tenants who sign an annual lease will keep their rent at no more than 30 percent of their income, which often stems only from Veterans Administration and Social Security income. These units are not intended as transitional housing, and there is no required minimum length of stay. 

According to Thaxton, the concept is that by keeping housing costs manageable, tenants can better allocate their income for living expenses. This approach also allows them to save and possibly work towards moving into a market-priced unit later, thereby freeing up space for others who are in need.

Whatever rent is paid by tenants will go directly to building management and upkeep, as the property itself will have no debt. The complex itself cost approximately $2 million and was built entirely with the future and long-term success in mind. Units feature mid-to-high end appliances and construction, along with unique architecture and features.

“Gulf Coast and its donors insisted this property be housing with dignity. We want these veterans to be proud to show off the place that they live. We want them to host friends and family and create a community. These units will have granite countertops, quality cabinetry, a state-of-the-art laundry facility, and a beautiful outdoor patio space. Every time we had a choice to go low, medium, or high quality in the construction, we went medium to high,” said Jon. 

In addition to high quality living conditions, Gulf Coast commissioned local artist, Tim Jaeger, to create a stunning mural on the outside of the building. The massive hand painted mural represents multiple branches of the US Military with diverse ethnicities and represents both men and women in uniform. 

As we near the grand opening of Heroes’ Village later this spring, the prospect of creating more of these structures and affordable homes for veterans is still at the top of Jon’s mind. 

“Once tenants move in, we will have a moment of celebration, then we will be right back at it looking for our next partnership and our next opportunity. My job will be to find more partnerships, donors, and land to continue to build these properties at zero, or close to zero debt,” said Jon. 

“I congratulate Jon and Gulf Coast for all their hard work to make this happen,” said Skip Sack. “It’s a great start, but we’re only able to help about 20 of the 100 plus veterans in need right now. Hopefully we’ll get more people on board to create even bigger properties in the near future.” 

According to the Navy Federal Credit Union’s “Best Cities After Service” 2024 report, Sarasota is the number one city in the United States for military veterans to reside and call home based on a variety of quality-of-life metrics. Together, with the help of Jon Thaxton, Skip Sack, Peter Soderberg, future donors, Gulf Coast Community Foundation, and its partners, Sarasota can continue to combat veteran homelessness by building more affordable housing and continue to remain number one on that list. 

If you are interested in becoming a donor for this initiative or would like more information on Gulf Coast and all the causes and other initiatives it supports, visit www.gulfcoastcf.org.