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Homeless service advocates gather for a County Commission District 5 forum on the \u2018state of homelessness\u2019 on Sept. 25, 2025. Credit: Courtesy of Support Orlando Shelters<\/p>\nHomeless service advocates gather for a County Commission District 5 forum on the \u2018state of homelessness\u2019 on Sept. 25, 2025. Credit: Courtesy of Support Orlando Shelters<\/p>\n
Orlando\u2019s cost of living problem isn\u2019t a question \u2014 it\u2019s a known fact. The area\u2019s average rent prices skyrocketed nearly 40 percent<\/a> from 2019 to 2023. And with rising property insurance and mortgage rates in recent years, owning a modest home \u2014 or even renting \u2014 has increasingly become out of reach for the average person or family.\u00a0<\/p>\n That\u2019s especially true for older adults living on a fixed income \u2014 who make up an increasing percentage<\/a> of the region\u2019s homeless population \u2014 and many people working in the region\u2019s booming tourism industry<\/a>, who often work multiple jobs<\/a> just to stay afloat as their employers boast millions or even billions of dollars<\/a> in annual revenue.\u00a0Nationwide, rent prices have exceeded Americans\u2019 income gains by 325 percent<\/a> since 1985.<\/p>\n That\u2019s why, when city leaders began exploring the idea of repurposing the vacant Orange County Work Release Center south of downtown into a new homeless shelter last year, some neighbors were quietly shocked by the aggressive opposition to the idea that followed.\u00a0<\/p>\n After all, more than 1,000 people were found<\/a> to be sleeping on the streets in Central Florida last year \u2014 a figure that doesn\u2019t take into account families living in hotels or doubled up in others\u2019 homes \u2014 and data show that shelter capacity in the region is woefully insufficient<\/a> to meet the rising need. The state had also just passed<\/a> a ban on sleeping on public property, just a year after lawmakers banned local governments<\/a> from enacting rent control to help prevent people from becoming homeless in the first place.<\/p>\n Nonetheless, the city\u2019s new shelter idea rapidly spurred an oppositional campaign dubbed \u201cStop SODO Shelter<\/a>.\u201d Neighbors began planting anti-shelter signs in their yards, which spread throughout neighborhoods south of downtown near the proposed site on Kaley Street.\u00a0<\/p>\n Shelter opponents, drawing on negative stereotypes about homeless people, argued<\/a> that the new shelter would drive down property values, create an unsafe situation for families, and invite issues such as drug use, aggressive behavior, and burglaries.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile I do understand the pressing need to address homelessness, I believe the current plan, as it stands, poses a significant risk to the safety and security of the community, and to property values,\u201d one neighbor told the Orlando Sentinel.<\/p>\n City leaders ultimately abandoned the idea<\/a> last March, after facing sufficient pressure from an organized cadre of neighbors. But others in the neighborhood, who didn\u2019t feel confident enough to speak up at the time, are now organizing a grassroots campaign to urge a reversal, and are broadly urging local governments to invest in systems to support their homeless neighbors.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are so past the point of exhausted in resources,\u201d said Lee Perry, founder of the Support Orlando Shelters<\/a>, a name pointedly shortened to S.O.S, or a cry for help.\u00a0<\/p>\n Perry, a local political consultant and environmental activist, formerly worked on staff with Orange County commissioners Nicole Wilson and Kelly Martinez Semrad. Through that, she has insider knowledge of the challenges that leaders, and local nonprofits, face in addressing rising homelessness numbers.<\/p>\n After the Stop SoDO Shelter campaign managed to defeat the Kaley Street shelter proposal, Perry said others in the neighborhood \u2014 a quiet minority or majority, depending on who you ask \u2014 began contacting her to ask if she could help them organize a campaign to counter the anti-shelter narrative.<\/p>\n \u201cWe want to get organized, we just don\u2019t really know how,\u201d Perry recalled hearing from neighbors. \u201cWe\u2019re really disturbed by how our community is being represented.\u201d<\/p>\n For the last several months, a group of about five to seven people have consistently attended city and county commission meetings in \u201cSupport Orlando Shelters\u201d T-shirts, as part of what Perry describes as a \u201cgentle\u201d public pressure tactic.\u00a0<\/p>\n Not only do these group members maintain a consistent presence at government meetings, urging local elected officials to invest in homelessness resources. They also thank city and county leaders for the times they do so.<\/p>\n \u201cThe county\u2019s budget is our money, the people\u2019s money,\u201d Kathleen Fitzgerald, wearing a Support Orlando Shelters shirt, told Orange County commissioners earlier this month at a board meeting. \u201cYou are merely charged with being good stewards of that money,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cHaving said that,\u201d she added, \u201cI want to thank you for signing off on $39 million<\/a> in federal grants that will provide funds for the Coalition for the Homeless to build a new shelter for women and children, and $15 million for United Against Poverty to replace and enlarge its food pantry.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis is how I want my tax dollars being spent,\u201d she told commissioners. \u201cAnd I support your continued efforts to make the lives of everyone in Orange County better.\u201d<\/p>\n Rising demand<\/p>\n The city of Orlando and Orange County governments have invested millions of local and federal funds into addressing homelessness and affordable housing development over the past few decades. But Perry said that investment isn\u2019t stretching far enough today in the face of rising demand.<\/p>\n Local food pantries and homeless nonprofits \u2014 offering services ranging from shelter, to laundry and mail services, showers, counseling, and case management \u2014 are struggling to keep up.<\/p>\n Pastor Scott Billue, founder of the homeless service nonprofit Matthew\u2019s Hope Ministries<\/a>, isn\u2019t shy about what he thinks. \u201cThey\u2019re not even fucking talking about it,\u201d he told Orlando Weekly of local officials. \u201cThat\u2019s what pisses me off.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re not even fucking talking about it. That\u2019s what pisses me off.\u201d<\/p>\n Pastor Scott Billue, founder and head of the nonprofit Matthew\u2019s Hope Ministries<\/p>\n His nonprofit, based out of Winter Garden, provides on-site and mobile outreach to homeless people in Orange and Brevard Counties. Formerly homeless himself, Billue said what most concerns him right now is the rise in homeless seniors, plus adults who are mentally or physically disabled \u2014 not mentally ill \u2014 who are outliving their caregivers.<\/p>\n \u201cThirty-five percent of the people walking in my door for services right now are first-time homeless Baby Boomers, and no one is talking about it,\u201d said Billue, who\u2019s 63 years old and a Baby Boomer himself. Part of the issue, he said, is that the upper end of his generation is starting to \u201cdie off,\u201d\u00a0 leaving behind spouses who must find a way alone to cover higher insurance costs and property taxes and weather other inflationary pressures, such as higher gas prices.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019ve lived a very normal life up to this point. Had careers. I\u2019ve had everything from literally nurses to NASA engineers to you name it,\u201d said Billue, referring to the approximately 1,300 encounters his nonprofit has with homeless people each week.<\/p>\n Every day, he said they\u2019re serving people who have been arrested under Florida\u2019s new anti-camping ban, which officially took effect in January 2025. Drafted in collaboration with a conservative think tank<\/a>, the law prohibits people in Florida from sleeping on public property, such as a city bench or on the sidewalk.\u00a0<\/p>\n These are people without any other suitable options, who are woken up multiple times per night by the police as a result, according to Billue, simply to be told, \u201cYou can\u2019t be here.\u201d People who have the option to shuffle to another location, out of the cops\u2019 view, or go to jail.\u00a0<\/p>\n County data show there isn\u2019t enough shelter space to go around \u2014 with a shortage of hundreds of shelter beds, as it is \u2014 and some existing shelters aren\u2019t suitable for people with certain medical needs or pets that they rely on to keep them safe and provide comfort.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIf they\u2019re getting improper rest, their situation is going to get worse and they\u2019re going to react more poorly,\u201d Billue said.<\/p>\n He believes city and county leaders have historically \u201cdone a lot of throwing money down a dark hole\u201d and want to place the concept of homelessness in a box that can be neatly defined, explained and organized. \u201cI\u2019ve been homeless, trust me. There\u2019s no frickin\u2019 box.\u201d<\/p>\n Related Stories<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\tMore than 8,000 OCPS students identified as homeless this month \u2014 the highest number of any school district in the state, according to preliminary data.\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\tA majority of renters spend more than 30 percent of their total monthly income on housing costs alone.\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n Every person, or family, on the streets, he argued, is homeless for a different reason. Maybe they lost their job during the pandemic<\/a> and were evicted. Now, with an eviction on their record, they can\u2019t get a landlord to rent them an apartment. Or, maybe they work 40, or even 50 or 60 hours a week earning minimum wage, and it\u2019s still not enough<\/a> to afford a safe, reliable rental in Orlando to call home.<\/p>\n Billue believes that local officials should prioritize bringing \u201cthose of us that are in the trenches\u201d together to find a way to bring the public and private sectors together to \u201cactually address the issue, rather than kick the can down the street again.\u201d<\/p>\n Stopgap initiatives such as mobile bus shelters<\/a> \u2014 a project led by Matthew\u2019s Hope in Brevard County, through a partnership with the county government \u2014 are \u201cjust a stepping stone,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s not an answer.\u201d<\/p>\n He recently attended a monthly meeting of Support Orlando Shelters this past month, where he helped train attendees on how to provide public comment during local government meetings and offered suggestions on what they could say, or do, to have the most impact. <\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t need to be ugly about this, but we need to sit there and get them to start thinking differently,\u201d Billue said.<\/p>\n Strength in numbers<\/p>\n Support Orlando Shelters currently meets monthly at the Broadway United Methodist Church in Lake Eola Heights, hosts mutual aid drives, and uses its email list of about 200 people to mobilize members to city council and county commission meetings, if they have the time to show up. (Most meetings occur weekday mornings or afternoons, severely limiting the ability of many residents to be there.)<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we really want to do is inspire folks who maybe have never spoken at a public comment meeting before to maybe come out and speak one time,\u201d said Perry. \u201cAnd then maybe challenge yourself to maybe meet with your local commissioner, whether at the city or the county level, and ask them to do a little bit more.\u201d<\/p>\n They\u2019ve invited activists involved with the anti-shelter movement to join their meetings, and they\u2019ve also invited local homeless service providers, the Farmworker Association, and government officials such as city commissioner Patty Sheehan and Orange County commissioners Kelly Semrad and Mayra Uribe (who\u2019s running for Orange County mayor this year) to speak as well.<\/p>\n Perry said that most homeless nonprofit providers in the area, save for Billue perhaps, are too afraid to air their concerns about local government investments publicly, for fear that they\u2019ll risk receiving additional public funding in the future.<\/p>\n Orange County is currently considering<\/a> a proposal to build a new 150-bed shelter in the Goldenrod area east of downtown \u2014 a project that Support Orlando Shelters supports, with caveats.\u00a0<\/p>\n According to Perry, the shelter likely won\u2019t be completed or ready for years to come, if it\u2019s even approved. She compared that question mark of a location to the vacant Work Release Center on Kaley Street that already has bunk beds, lockers, vending machines, and approved permitting and licensing for things such as a ceiling hood in the kitchen for food preparation.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Goldenrod shelter is a fantastic opportunity,\u201d Perry said. But, \u201cHow many years is it going to take to get, you know, some flesh on the bones with that project?\u201d<\/p>\n Consistency is Support Orlando Shelters\u2019 current priority. A consistent presence at local government meetings. Consistent monthly meetings. And, ideally, consistently bringing more people into the group to show the community \u2014 and its elected leaders \u2014 that they can\u2019t incarcerate the problem of homelessness away.<\/p>\n Most people don\u2019t want to go alone to a government meeting, said Billue. \u201cBut when they start getting a handful of people that will go out together, they feel a lot more empowered. And I\u2019m hoping to see that happen with this group.\u201d<\/p>\n Orlando\u2019s daily dose of what matters. Subscribe to The Daily Weekly.<\/p>\n Related Stories<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\tFlorida CFO Blaise Ingoglia criticized Orange County on Monday, alleging nearly $200 million in \u2018wasteful spending\u2019\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\u2018Florida\u2019s strong population growth has collided with limited housing supply, pushing rents beyond what many families can afford.\u2019\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\tEach bed costs just a fraction of what it would cost to jail a person for sleeping on public property\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n Subscribe to Orlando Weekly newsletters.<\/a><\/p>\n Follow us:\u00a0Apple News<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Google News<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0NewsBreak<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Reddit<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Instagram<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Facebook\u00a0<\/a>|\u00a0Bluesky<\/a>\u00a0| Or sign up for our\u00a0RSS Feed<\/a><\/p>\n \n\tRelated\n<\/p>\n \t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/IMG_7733.jpg\")
Neighbors gather for a Support Orlando Shelters meeting to counter the local anti-shelter narrative. Credit: Lee Perry\/Support Orlando Shelters<\/p>\n
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