Poling Gardens— Our Next 16-home Community

There is a housing crisis in Manatee County, and we are more committed than ever to scaling up to meet the unprecedented need for safe, affordable housing in our community. Therefore, with an ambitious goal of building 10 homes a year, Manatee Habitat broke ground at Poling Gardens in December 2022 and by mid-2025, we will have closed on all of the 16 single-family homes in the community.

We currently have 58 families prequalified for our homeownership program, and we receive an average of 83 calls per month from families who hope to qualify. It is through your donations and volunteering that we can put deserving families into our Poling Gardens homes.

Previously a tomato farm owned by the Poling family in the Samoset area of Bradenton, this community will house 16 families in charming three-bedroom, two-bathroom homes.

Manatee Habitat is intentional about providing affordable housing in neighborhoods looking to increase the financial stability of their residents. Poling Gardens is located in a Racially and Economically Concentrated Area of Poverty as designated by the county. Therefore, we have ensured that our simple, sustainable homes will fit in with with the character of the existing neighborhood.

The first home that we will begin construction on will be for our 2023 Women Build family, Ketty, and her son, Diego. By 2024, they will be the first family to move into the community. Click here to read their story.

Poling Gardens was funded, in part, by a Manatee County Community Development Block Grant and these additional sponsors:

Jacarlene Foundation

Paolo and Sylvia Costa