One of the uncomfortable truths of aging that I have discovered is the need to use the restroom more frequently than in the past. During the day it’s easy, unless I’m stuck in traffic on the 408. At night, I have the luxury of waking up and simply walking down the hall to take care of my business. Aside from having to get out of bed, it’s a simple nuisance.
It’s not that way for our unhoused population. During the day, Orlando has 21 public restrooms per 100,000 people, which doesn’t sound like many; however, the national average is eight, so we are doing well. Unfortunately, facilities at public parks and libraries close at nightfall, greatly reducing the number of bathrooms available. Additionally, after midnight our number of available restrooms drops to almost zero as the few stores and restaurants who allow noncustomers to use their facilities close as well. This is a big problem for the at least 3,000 people in our three-county area who sleep outside or in their cars each night.
Several unhoused people are arrested each month for relieving themselves in public. In 2024 a total of 219 unhoused people were arrested on this charge. These people were all booked into jail, saw a judge, and charged a fine they probably couldn’t pay. They ended up with a criminal record, which will make it harder for them to find a job or rent an apartment, simply because our community doesn’t have public restrooms that are open from dusk to dawn.
This is a significant public health issue. Not only is it unsanitary for people to relieve themselves in public places, but the threat of arrest for doing so significantly impacts the amount of water our unhoused population drinks each night. Our clients at the Christian Service Center have told us that many of them sleeping outside limit their intake of fluids, even on the hottest nights, so they can make it through the night without having to relieve themselves. This is bad for their health and dangerous in our increasingly hotter climate. We see numerous people daily who are dehydrated from a lack of fluids. Some of it is due to a lack of self-care. Some of it is due to a fear of needing to relieve themselves overnight. Ambulance calls are a regular occurrence at the Center during the summer.
The problem is also a community issue. Left with no other alternatives, many people are forced to relieve themselves wherever it’s convenient. Downtown businesses deal with the aftermath of folks relieving themselves in bushes, doorways and other out of sight places at night. The city and these businesses spend thousands of dollars each year cleaning up.
More available public restrooms located around downtown Orlando and Orange County would alleviate these problems. Self-cleaning and self-maintaining public restrooms do exist, and other communities in the nation use them. Studies find that well-maintained and easily accessible public restrooms can reduce crime, as they increase foot traffic and make people feel more secure wherever they are placed. Cities such as Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Fairfax, Virginia, have installed these systems with success.
Our unhoused population already endures too much. Simply being unhoused is an unimaginable nightmare. Laws limit where they can rest. Our community’s shortage of shelter space means thousands sleep outside each night. A lack of affordable housing means that a home of their own, even for working families, is out of reach. So many of our unhoused hold jobs, send their children to school, and try their hardest to live productive lives. Forcing them to relieve themselves without privacy is one more indignity.
Michael Perkins
Self-cleaning public restrooms placed around our community would do so much good for so many. They would provide a private, safe, and clean place to go, alleviating so many problems in our downtown. More public restrooms would make our community cleaner, safer, and inviting. Most importantly, they would provide a place to go with dignity and privacy, something I have at the end of my hallway at home. We should all have that luxury. I encourage you to contact your city and county commissioners and encourage them to consider funding a program to bring public restrooms to our community. This problem could easily be fixed with the political will to make our community safer, cleaner,= and more dignified.
Michael Perkins is past president and board member of the Christian Service Center.