Workforce housing for DeSoto teachers could be model for Sarasota-Manatee counties
Facing a severe housing crunch for its teachers – many of whom endure long commutes – DeSoto County Schools has given the green light to a Sarasota-based developer to build workforce apartments for educators on school-owned property.
Following months of discussions and a public workshop supported by Superintendent Bobby Bennett, the DeSoto school board has authorized Bennett to begin collaborating with One Stop Housing on a site plan and zoning changes for the project.
The proposal calls for up to 80 apartments on a 6-acre parcel of land owned by the school district near Nocatee Elementary School, about five miles south of Arcadia. All of the workforce units will be set aside for teachers and other school staff who fall between 60% and 80% of Area Median Income, or AMI, which is One Stop’s specialty. Rents likely will run roughly $750 to $1,400 a month, including utilities.
Housing advocates hope that the initiative will inspire regional districts to follow suit. In the short term, Bennett believes it will address DeSoto’s long-standing challenge in recruiting and retaining teachers.
Currently, over 126 of them endure daily commutes from as far away as Sarasota, Manatee, Lee and Charlotte counties, Bennett said.
With annual salaries starting at $50,000, many of DeSoto’s teachers make too much to qualify for local subsidized low-income housing, he noted. Meanwhile, market-rate apartments are either unavailable or financially out of reach.
Impressed by One Stop’s business model and high quality of its communities, Bennett is excited about the prospect of employees having access to a clean, safe place to live within walking distance or a short drive from their jobs.
“He’s a godsend to us,” Bennett said about One Stop’s CEO and managing partner, Mark Vengroff.
Vengroff was introduced to Bennett about a year ago, through Matt Sauer, collaboration and impact officer at the Charles & Margery Barancik Foundation.
Barancik has been actively involved in relief work in DeSoto following recent hurricanes and has a special mission focus on educational issues. At the same time, it has partnered with One Stop on some of the company's other workforce housing endeavors, including Sarasota Station.
Bennett quickly brought Vengroff up to speed on the hardships of teachers, bus drivers, food service and other staff forced to drive 20 miles or more to and from work every day.
“It’s deteriorating their family life and creating stress on their jobs, a lot of expense to maintain cars,” Vengroff said of the commutes. “People start giving up things around health because of travel.”
Under the tentative arrangement with DeSoto Schools, the district will lease the land to One Stop, which will develop, build and then manage the community, Vengroff said.
Plans call for up to 80 units – including studios, one- and two-bedroom apartments – for teachers and other district staff, he added. If school personnel can’t fill the complex, then the school board gets to decide on a second group of targeted tenants, possibly local first-responders.
Part of the space will also be devoted to commercial and retail use – likely a café, he said, depending on the needs of the community.
Vengroff is presently working with DeSoto County officials on zoning and land-use changes while neighborhood community leaders are being invited into the process for feedback.
He expects final school board approval of plans this fall, and the start of construction to quickly follow, with completion and move-in of new tenants as soon as early 2027.
One Stop has built workforce housing units for teachers in Orlando, while both Manatee and Sarasota school districts have brought Vengroff in recently to make presentations before their boards.
“I’m confident that similar models in Sarasota and Manatee Counties are forthcoming,” he said. “The need is everywhere.”
Sauer agrees. The intensity of the housing crisis and shortage of workforce units calls for just these very types of public-private partnerships, he said.
For its part, Barancik plans to contribute $1.2 million to DeSoto’s workforce housing for teachers and school staff, he said. The amount will help keep rents low there for the next 50 years – allowing generations of young teachers to get on their feet and save money, possibly toward buying their own homes, Sauer said.
Meanwhile, given that many school districts throughout the region are “land rich” – a crucial piece of the workforce housing equation – he also believes many more opportunities exist to copy this initiative.
“I think Sarasota and Manatee would be wise to look at DeSoto’s model,” Sauer said.
This story comes from a partnership between the Sarasota Herald-Tribune and the Community Foundation of Sarasota County. Saundra Amrhein covers the Season of Sharing campaign, along with issues surrounding housing, utilities, child care and transportation in the area. She can be reached at samrhein@gannett.com.