Sarasota nonprofit gets funding boost toward affordable housing project

A Sarasota nonprofit that provides supportive housing and hunger relief has gotten a funding boost for its new affordable housing project. Harvest House has received a commitment from the Gulf Coast Community Foundation and its donors to match donations up to $500,000 toward Lakeview Village, a 25-unit apartment complex planned for North Sarasota.

When it is built, Lakeview Village will provide affordable housing adjacent to Lake Park and Emma E. Booker Elementary School. Its apartments will range from one to three bedrooms.

To live there, tenants must earn 60 to 80% of the area median income, with educators, social workers and vulnerable seniors given priority, according to a statement from Harvest House.

“Once Lakeview Village is completed, not only will the available housing strengthen families and the community,” Harvest House CEO Dan Minor says in a statement, “it will also create a revenue stream for our organization, to bolster our supportive/affordable housing, addiction recovery programs and food security efforts.”

Harvest House offers more than 300 beds and operates multiple programs throughout Sarasota and Manatee counties to support those rebuilding their lives, including families and children experiencing homelessness and adults with a history of addiction and incarceration. In 2025, the organization says it served 545 clients.

To build Lakeview Village, Harvest House has undertaken a $5.6 million fundraising campaign, which will cover the entire budget for the project, officials say.

So far, the project has received $2.5 million in federal funds through Sarasota County’s Resilient SRQ Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery program and $1 million from the Charles & Margery Barancik Foundation.

Once $1 million is raised through the matching funds challenge, Harvest House will still need to raise $1.1 million toward its $5.6 million campaign goal. 

As of July 28, Harvest House's fundraising campaign page for Lakeview Village shows that $167,500 has been raised toward the $500,000 match.

“Lakeview Village is housing that funds housing: attainable homes for Sarasota's workforce today, and a lasting revenue source that allows Harvest House to keep housing our neighbors for years to come,” Phillip Lanham, Gulf Coast Community Foundation president and CEO, says in a statement. “That kind of dual impact is exactly why Gulf Coast is proud to match this campaign, and we hope our community will join us before October 31."

Among Gulf Coast Community Foundation’s donors participating in the match program are the Elsa and Peter Soderberg Charitable Foundation, Bob and Lin Williams and Kathy and Travis Brown, according to a statement.

To build Lakeview Village, Harvest House is partnering with Sarasota-based affordable housing developer One Stop Housing. The nonprofit estimates it will have a notice to proceed from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for its environmental review by November or October.