BRADENTON, Fla. — Manatee County commissioners are turning one of the old sheriff's offices into temporary housing for families who are homeless.

Within the next month, the county will decide on a nonprofit to take over the space located off 57th Avenue East in Bradenton.

The project, dubbed "Under One Roof," aims to provide up to four months of housing with resources like mental health assistance to help families.

"Eventually, this will be a place where meals will be served for the families staying here," Manatee County Commissioner Amanda Ballard said.

It's a plan Ballard has been holding onto for years, from her time working as a child welfare attorney.

"I saw hundreds of families who were in crisis, whether that was for domestic violence, mental health, the opioid crisis, and that problem unfortunately with the price of housing in our county has only gotten worse,” she said.

The building will house dozens of families at a time. 

"From our last count, we have about 100 homeless families that we counted from our point-in-time count," Ballard said. "However, if you go by the data the school district has, they have over 1,000 homeless children here in the county, and that's really significant."

This program provides resources to families to set them up for success, like budgeting classes or even counseling services. The services won't be exclusive to people housed at the homeless facility.

"Maybe they are not quite in crisis to the point they need to stay here, but maybe they need all of those services in one place," Ballard said.

Outside the building, there are bigger plans. Ballard would like a community garden, a play area for kids and even small dwelling units constructed.

So far, the county is spending $600,000 from the American Rescue Plan to transform the former law enforcement building.

Once families leave the facility, they could be eligible for county rental assistance.