SARASOTA COUNTY, Fla. — Help for families facing eviction in Sarasota County is currently in limbo after county commissioners defunded an eviction intervention program run by United Way South Sarasota County in partnership with the Sheriff's Office.
The program called Supportive Housing Initiative and Eviction Lifeline and Diversion, or S.H.I.E.L.D., aimed to provide immediate resources and shelter options to families who find themselves facing a housing crisis.
According to county records, around 424 family units received eviction notices served by Sarasota County Sheriff's Office deputies last year.
Through the eviction intervention program around 350 of those got help, according to officials with United Way South Sarasota County.
Now with the funding cut, they say there's no money to help such families once funds run out at the end of September.
"These are just families who can no longer afford rent. They can no longer afford the place that they've been staying at for 10-20 years because the rents increase so much, These are every families are hard-working families our families," said Chris Johnson, United Way of South Sarasota County.
After just one year of the S.H.I.E.L.D. program, county commissioners rejected a request for renewed funding of $160,000 for the next fiscal year.
"It's a drop in the bucket for the county and without those funds, we're going to have more homeless families on our streets. It's going to impact the entire community, the entire county and it's been impacting the homeless services here as it's also being truncated by the same decisions the county commission made," Johnson said.
With 284 evictions so far in 2024, leaders at the United Way of South Sarasota are hoping Sarasota County's sheriff takes over the program and finds funds within his already set budget or shelves the matter until his next budget review.
They are also hoping that the county commissioners will have a change of heart in the future and reconsider their decision.
However, they reiterate that they still have other resources available that would allow them to continue to serve the community despite the decision.
"We may be again, on a very small level when it comes to this, and may not be something we can respond to as quickly as we would like to, but we're still here and that's the message we want to send," Johnson explained.
County officials also said they have resources available to assist families in crisis through the 311 hotline.
Sarasota's Sheriff Kurt Hoffmann, through a spokesperson, said he is closely watching the latest developments with the S.H.I.E.L.D. program and the decision of the Board of County Commissioners.