Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/223368
Sarasota News Leader December 6, 2013 Leslie Loveless pointed that out to the 22 nonprofit and government reps who attended Wednesday's meeting, many of them from organizations based in Manatee. Page 26 Minor tells The Sarasota News Leader that her agency, established first as a men's drug and alcohol rehab facility in 1992, sees homeless individuals from all over the region, from Tampa to Fort Myers. "It's so important for us to have a bi-county agreement with some of these ordinances," she says. To have the homeless migrate back and forth between Sarasota and Manatee will only complicate the problem. Sarasota won't succeed if Manatee doesn't come on board, Minor adds. While Sarasota County and its municipalities have agreed to synchronize new ordinances to ensure continuity across city lines, Manatee County has so far agreed to no such thing. Which means that even if Sarasota approves some of Marbut's recommendations, such as a ban on public feeding programs, the homeless may just migrate to Manatee, or they may Reaction to Marbut's recommendations was in fact be drawn to Sarasota because of its largely positive among Partnership members, but concern over the fine print did bubble up. new emergency and transitional housing. Public feeding programs, for example, don't The counties need "parallel ordinances," just support the homeless, one agency rep Loveless suggested, arguing that government pointed out. Participants are often the working poor or needy seniors. How can churches needs to "think regionally" about the issue. Homeless people gather outside Selby Library in downtown Sarasota. Photo by Norman Schimmel