Sarasota County will allow housing developers to bid for $30 million to build multifamily affordable housing as part of its Resilient SRQ hurricane recovery program.
The housing would be targeted toward low- and moderate-income households—those making less than 80% of Sarasota County’s area median income. Eligible applicants include for-profit and non-profit housing developers, public housing authorities, non-profit organizations, and municipalities.
The county received $210 million from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for storm recovery after damage from Hurricanes Debby, Helene, and Milton in 2024. Officials opened up $87 million for infrastructure and waterway projects with the federal funds earlier this month.
The $30 million comes after a previous influx of federal funds put toward affordable housing due to Hurricane Ian.
“Resilient SRQ originally launched the Hurricane Ian Multifamily Affordable Housing Program in March 2024, with $48 million awarded to 10 projects by the Sarasota County Commission,” a county press release said, “adding at least 476 affordable housing units for income-qualifying households.”
This still from a drone video shows extensive flooding on Siesta Key the day after Hurricane Helene.
County staff will review and score applications, with the elected commission ultimately determining who will receive the funding. Approved projects must enter into an agreement to fulfill certain “project-specific requirements,” according to a county press release.
Scoring factors include a project’s financial plan, impact, number of affordable units, project readiness, and period of affordability. Projects will be scored on a scale of 0 to 100.
There are several requirements that projects must meet to receive the federal funds, including:
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Five or more rental units in a building where at least 51% are affordable.
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An affordability period of 20 years.
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Location within Sarasota County.
Applications must be submitted online. The deadline to apply is Oct. 24.
Christian Casale covers local government for the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Email him at [email protected] or [email protected]
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Sarasota offers $30M to build affordable housing, developers will bid
