Venice Thrives strongly supports the “Sarasota Housing Action Plan” that was presented at the September 9th Venice Council Meeting by Jon Thaxton (Gulf Coast Community Foundation), Matt Sauer (Charles and Margery Barancik Foundation) and Kirsten Russell (Community Foundation of Sarasota County). We applaud Council Member Frank for requesting this presentation because affordable housing is a critically important issue affecting our entire community. The availability of affordable housing in Venice is part of what has historically made our city special. For many years, Venice was an affordable option to workers, families, visitors and retirees from all walks of life. Sadly, this is no longer the case for many.

The affordable housing crisis we face certainly could not be fully explored nor resolved in the 20 minutes allotted for this topic on the Council’s agenda, so we hope that focused workshops and meeting agendas in the future will allow for a more comprehensive discussion of the opportunities within the City of Venice to take specific actions recommended by the plan.

Of particular note is the strategy that advocates the “review and reform of zoning and land use regulations to unlock developable land.” Such an approach is fully aligned with our belief that new developments should be providing more affordable housing and a broader range of home types. Frankly, we believe that guaranteed affordable housing should be required by the Council in order to approve any exceptions to the Comprehensive Plan, LDRs and zoning for new developments.

We appreciate Mr. Thaxton, Mr. Sauer and Ms. Russell presenting their findings and recommendations to the City Council. We are hopeful that the Council will be inspired to take further action on this important issue for Venice and to protect what makes Venice special.

You can watch the presentation from the meeting, which starts at 34:55 by clicking this link. You can read the full report by clicking here.