© 2025 Central Florida Public Media. All Rights Reserved.
90.7 FM Orlando • 89.5 FM Ocala
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Orlando moves forward with plans to expand Coalition for the Homeless shelter

Parramore Resident Lawanna Gelzer gives public comment against the shelter expansion.
.
/
Source: YouTube
Parramore Resident Lawanna Gelzer gives public comment against the shelter expansion.

The Orlando City Council moved forward on Monday with an ordinance that could expand the current Coalition for the Homeless Men’s Service Center on Terry Avenue.

If approved, Ordinance No. 2025-4 would amend current zoning and development plans to allow for the addition of seven new properties, including a six-story, 92,000-square-foot facility that will have 350 beds to shelter women and children and 36 units of “bridge housing” for families that are transitioning from the shelter into off-campus housing. The new construction also includes a 9,000-square-foot, two-story administrative office building, and a 160-square-foot security building within the site.

Parramore Resident Lawanna Gelzer said her neighborhood loves the unhoused, but would like to see other parts of Orlando host a shelter instead.

“How much more does a community need to suffer? Why do we need a 90-000-square-foot office space for the Homeless Coalition? I am very concerned about the houseless population, however, I continue to see funding go in the wrong way,” she said. “We feel the impact, and the impact is not nice.”

The ordinance passed in council chambers without discussion.

The Coalition men’s shelter suffered a fire last year, which displaced more than 200 of its residents temporarily.

Gelzer said the impact of housing the unsheltered masses has had its toll on West Orlando communities.

“We had an ordinance to protect us,” she said. “To not allow any more social services or buildings expand in our community because we were bearing the brunt of the problem in our community, and it’s not being shared by any other district. Parramore is only 1.4 square miles. We were 20,000 strong. We [now have] less than 4,500.”

A second reading has not yet been scheduled on the city’s agenda.

Lillian Hernández Caraballo is a Report for America corps member.

Lillian (Lilly) Hernández Caraballo is a bilingual, multimedia journalist covering housing and homelessness for Central Florida Public Media, as a Report for America corps member.
Related Content