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| Community Budget Issue Requests - Tracking Id #317 |
| Residential Treatment and Transitional Housing Project |
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| Requester: |
David J. Beesley, MPH |
Organization: |
First Step of Sarasota, Inc. |
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| Project Title: |
Residential Treatment and Transitional Housing Project |
Date Submitted |
12/19/2007 3:16:17 PM |
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| Sponsors: |
Bennett |
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| Statewide Interest: |
| This project meets a need to increase availability of and access to substance abuse residential treatment programs and transitional housing for the persons in recovery and the homeless across the region served by First Step (Sarasota, Manatee and DeSoto Counties) as documented by an analysis of data collected for the Sarasota Community Alliance-Mental Health and Stakeholders Committee and the 2006 Point-in-Time Survey conducted by the Suncoast Partnership to End Homelessness. |
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| Recipient: |
First Step of Sarasota, Inc. |
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Contact: |
David J. Beesley |
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1970 Main Street, 5th Floor |
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Contact Phone: |
(941) 552-2050 |
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Sarasota 34236 |
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Contact email: |
dbeeseley@fsos.org |
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| Counties: |
Sarasota |
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| Gov't Entity: |
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Private Organization (Profit/Not for Profit): |
Yes |
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| Project Description: |
| First Step is in the Master Planning stage of a major capital project that will result in the construction of a new residential campus for its substance abuse (alcohol and drugs) addiction recovery programs. Now located in what was a 1950s era motel on North Washington Boulevard in Sarasota (U.S Route 301), the existing 75-bed facility�s infrastructure has aged beyond repair. It is too small to meet the growing need for residential addiction treatment beds for the general population as well as the increasing number of referrals from the criminal justice and judicial systems and the need to provide treatment services for a significant number of homeless (10% of clients served in 2006 were homeless).
Planned as a multi-use project, First Step�s new Residential Services Campus will double the number of available treatment beds to 150, add at least 30 safe and sober transitional affordable housing units for clients in recovery, and integrate a portion of the organization�s Outpatient Services to ensure that clients have ready access to a comprehensive continuum of care from admissions through treatment and recovery including the provision of medical and psychiatric care (particularly for those with co-occurring diseases), case management, work-force training and readiness support, and family reunification programs.
The location of the planned Residential Campus is at the edge of Sarasota�s Newtown neighborhood (historically African American) and on the boundary of an Enterprise Zone. Conceived as an in-fill project, First Step�s new Residential Campus will serve as a model for the State of Florida in ways to provide residential treatment, housing options, and employment opportunities for recovering substance abusers and the homeless. The new construction will be LEED certified and designed to promote community within its own borders as well as with the surrounding neighborhoods.
First Step owns the property (approximately 4 acres with current appraised land value of $1.24 million) on which the new Residential Campus will be constructed. It was awarded $250,000 in local SHIP funds to support the addition of new housing units for the homeless and will receive $5 million from the local options sales tax that was renewed by Sarasota County.
The total capital construction budget for this project is estimated at $15 million. First Step expects to combine public and private funding with individual charitable gifts and significant foundation support to complete the project. Depending upon the availability of funding, it will be completed in phases designed to accommodate first the need to replace the organization�s existing treatment capacity and transitional housing with additional housing units and workforce components in a later phase. The project is expected to be completed by late 2010.
With this Community Budget Issue Request, First Step seeks a directed appropriation of $900,000 to defray the a portion of the expense for site engineering and infrastructure. Funding at this level will escalate the pace of the project and provide significant leverage as First Step proceeds with its capital fund raising efforts with prospective community, regional, and national funders. |
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| Is this a project related to a federal or state declared disaster? |
No |
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| Measurable Outcome Anticipated: |
| Constructing a new residential treatment and transition al housing campus will add 150 new treatment beds and at least 30 new transitional housing units. The goal is to meet the ever increasing need to expand the region�s capacity for substance abuse treatment while also increasing the availability and access to safe and sober affordable housing for people in recovery and the homeless-populations that traditionally are underserved and difficult to place. |
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| Amount requested from the State for this project this year: |
$900,000 |
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| Total cost of the project: |
$15,000,000 |
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| Request has been made to fund: |
Construction |
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| What type of match exists for this project? |
Local, Private |
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Cash Amount |
$5,000,000 |
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In-kind Amount |
$1,250,000 |
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| Was this project previously funded by the state? |
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No |
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| Is future-year funding likely to be requested? |
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No |
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| Was this project included in an Agency's Budget Request? |
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No |
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| Was this project included in the Governor's Recommended Budget? |
No |
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| Is there a documented need for this project? |
Yes |
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Documentation: |
Data from Sarasota Community Alliance & CART Initiative/Suncoast Prtnrshp to End Homelessness Survey |
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| Was this project request heard before a publicly noticed meeting of a body of elected officials (municipal, county, or state)? |
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Yes |
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Hearing Body: |
Sarasota County Legislative Delegation, Board of County Commissioners, Local Option Sales Tax Cmte |
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| Is this a water project as described in Section 403.885, Laws of Florida? |
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No |
