A recent state law targeting unhoused Floridians is making it harder to find them and understand the extent of homelessness in Central Florida.
On Tuesday the Homeless Services Network of Central Florida released its annual report on the state of homelessness in the region.
Over a three-day period in January, about 300 volunteers surveyed people living on the streets and in homeless shelters in Orange, Osceola and Seminole counties to provide a snapshot of the region’s housing needs.
The report concluded that 2,724 people were homeless on the night of Jan. 25. That’s about what volunteers reported last year, and the year before that.
But the report calls it an “illusion of stability” caused by new state and local laws targeting homelessness, network CEO Martha Are explained.
“During the count, our volunteers reported — especially the ones who've, like, done this more than once, multiple years — they reported that a higher percentage of folks wouldn't talk to them, wouldn't answer the questions, were not willing to identify themselves as homeless,” Are said.
“And we connect that to the fear that has come about in relationship to the public sleeping legislation that the state has put out, as well as the law on making it harder to sleep on private property, even if the landlord or the owner was okay with it.”
Are released the new report at a press conference at First United Methodist Church in downtown Orlando.
In 2024, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law a controversial measure, House Bill 1365, that bans camping and sleeping in public spaces statewide, superseding local laws and regulations.
That law didn’t address the actual problem facing Central Florida’s homeless. Without more shelter capacity, most are still making encampments or sleeping in public spaces against the law, only now in places where they are harder to find for both authorities and support staff.
And the report’s numbers reflect that. Eighty percent of the unsheltered people surveyed this year said they spent Jan. 25 sleeping on streets or sidewalks or in woods or encampments.
That’s making it harder for volunteers and social work groups to find them and connect them with the resources they need, Are said. It also hurt the accuracy of the survey.
“When they’re pushed, when they’re afraid to stay in the downtown corridors, and they go out into rural and suburban areas … you can’t cover as much of the territory,” she explained.
Are said her staff know that their estimate for this year is an undercount because of other data. In April alone, more than 1,300 people reached out to the organization’s network for help after becoming homeless for the first time.
The Central Florida report notes that the Orlando-Sanford-Kissimmee metro area this year had the worst shortage of affordable housing in the country for people with extremely low incomes. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, the region’s 13 affordable rental units for every 100 extremely poor households has it tied with Las Vegas.
That’s both a persistent issue and bigger than just homelessness, the report notes.
“In recent years, our area has never ranked better than seventh worst nationally. We have often been worst or second worst,” the report states. “This has led to thousands of families living in rent-by-the-week motel rooms. Their numbers are not covered by homelessness data.”
