Pictured: Second Heart Homes provides long-term solutions to the homeless population. Photo courtesy of Megan Howell.

With a mission to revive the dignity of the homeless and mental health community through housing, support, and love, Second Heart Homes, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 2019, provides housing and critical services to homeless adults who are committed to focusing on their mental health in the Sarasota and Bradenton areas.

Executive Director and Founder of Second Heart Homes, Megan Howell, who as a child, was homeless along with her mother and brother, started the organization unintentionally when she was a waitress working toward her master's degree in psychology. From her own personal experiences, Howell has always had an appreciation for people who are vulnerable.

“There was a homeless man living outside the restaurant who had been on the streets for 25 years and suffering from schizophrenia,” she shares. “He was making these really interesting drawings so I sat down on the sidewalk with him to learn more about what he was doing and we became friends over the course of eight years. I made sure I went into work early to be able to talk to him. He really needed someone who wasn't going to dismiss his version of reality and somebody who was a safe harbor and quite honestly, I needed him too–he was the most interesting person I could ever talk to.”

One day, the man was missing from his usual spot. After searching, Howell eventually found him in a hospital after he’d been picked up for a medical emergency that almost took his life. “He told me he was ready to get off the streets so I unintentionally became his advocate,” she recalls. “I knew I was in that room for a reason and that you need help when you've been homeless for 25 years and you have a 25 year gap in rental history, no employment and you look a little rough around the edges.” This was back in 2015. Four years later, in 2019, Howell received the help necessary to start a nonprofit organization and Second Heart Homes was born.

Today, the organization has ten homes and 62 beds across Sarasota and Manatee Counties with ten full-time employees and about 35 volunteers providing housing with supportive services. ”We don't live on the properties, but we visit daily and we maintain them to make sure they're beautiful,” shares Howell. “Art Avenue donates all the art for our homes because art is not a luxury and we work with Lowes, Benjamin Moore and Ringling students to help with decorating.”

By creating a living environment based on love, respect and personal responsibility, Howell and her team are making management of mental health and recovery from homelessness more than just a possibility--for many, it's a reality.

Second Heart Homes relies on individual contributions and private sector funding to run their program.

Pictured: Second Heart Homes provides long-term solutions to the homeless population. Photo courtesy of Megan Howell.