The Homeless Services Network of Central Florida revealed the results of its annual homelessness count on Friday, noting that 40% of people experiencing homelessness in the tri-county Orlando Metro area are children and older adults. The report stated that over 1,000 students are living in cars, parks, and other inadequate housing.
The 2025 Point-in-Time Count found five additional cases of homelessness compared to last year in Orange, Seminole, and Osceola counties. The math: Orange County dropped 2.1% from last year, going from 2,013 cases to 1,972, but Seminole’s unhoused population increased 3.8%, from 420 to 436, and Osceola’s 172 total was up 8.7%, with a total of 373 unhoused individuals.
Overall, 2,781 people were found living in shelters, inside their cars or outdoors on a single night, including 1,090 who were living unsheltered. Although these numbers are on par with last year’s, the agency reported, unsheltered homelessness is still 156% higher than it was in 2022.
HSNCFL CEO Martha Are said seniors now make up 24% of this population.
“It’s not for either children or our grandparents to be living on the streets. Of our seniors, more than half of them are living unsheltered at a time in their life where they face more health issues, need more support, and they’re getting less of it,” she said.
The PIT Count only includes people who are willing to participate, answer questions, and acknowledge their homelessness. Each year, these numbers are considered an undercount. Especially this year, as Are said.
Outreach teams believe these numbers would be significantly higher were it not for the chilling effect of the statewide ban on public sleeping and camping.
The new law bans people from making a dwelling or sleeping in public spaces, including county and city land. A growing fear of arrest and criminalization among unhoused individuals, Are said, is likely driving unhoused people underground.
Are said this reluctance to participate is making outreach efforts harder. Staff and volunteers conducting the count were trying to interact with people on the streets, but it was hard to count people who were “trying not to be found.”
However, not everything was bad news. The report included one bright spot: Homelessness among young adults –ages 18 to 24– had dropped 29%.
Are praised organizations like SALT and Brighter Days, which focus on young people. Since its inception in 2011, SALT has housed nearly 2,000 people. Brighter Days reported housing more than 80 young adults last year.
“When we invest in these housing-focused solutions, we get good results, and it's worth investing the additional dollars,” Are said. “I think, once we start documenting the effectiveness of these interventions, we’ll see more willingness to fund expansion and to do more.”
Are also praised the rest of the region’s nonprofits which, in total, helped move more than 5,000 people from homelessness into stable housing just in 2024.
Lillian Hernández Caraballo is a Report for America corps member.
