INSIDER
In late January 2025, volunteers across Florida conducted the annual Point-in-Time count, a multi-night snapshot of homelessness in communities across the country.
Preliminary data from the 2025 US Department of Housing and Urban Development’s required annual census of homeless people in Marion County, which is taken on one day and is known as the PIT, or Point in Time count, has been released by the city of Ocala.
A nonprofit focused on issues related to homelessness is taking steps to get approval for a shelter for homeless veterans.
Matthew's Hope provides services to homeless people in Brevard and Orange counties, including food, medical and mental health care. Now those services are in jeopardy.
A small but enthusiastic group gathered this week for the Housing NOW! rally at Orlando’s Gaston Edwards Park, spearheaded by the Framily Support Network and Aaron E. Lewis, a co-founder of the network and a candidate for Orlando City Council.
Brevard’s Homeless Coalition is set to release its latest data, providing a snapshot of the number of people experiencing homelessness in the county. At least one volunteer says the state's camping ban law made it harder to find people to take part in the annual census.
A town hall meeting on Thursday evening invites the public to ask questions about the issue of homelessness in east Orange County, and what people can do.
Matthew’s Hope provides a wide array of services for homeless people in West Orange County and in Brevard County, from transitional housing to medical help to a preschool for homeless children. But after a large donor had to cut back funding, the group's founder says they may have to cut services.
In 2024, Gov. DeSantis signed a bill to force local governments to dismantle homeless camps. Here's how the law has affected the fight against homelessness, and how a group of journalists are trying to raise awareness.
Dozens of people who live in a homeless encampment in Orlando are preparing to vacate the area on the heels of receiving a violation notice demanding they remove their tents.
In Seminole County, there’s now expanded access to free legal assistance for low-income tenants facing housing challenges. It’s a resource provided by Seminole County Legal Aid (SCLA) in a space that’s now available, thanks to the Clerk of Court.
Most people who are homeless don't work, are dangerous, and drug addicts, so goes common belief. But the reasons for homelessness in Central Florida may surprise you. What local advocates want you to know.
Last week’s release of the annual point-in-time count made the challenge abundantly clear: Central Florida still doesn’t have enough ways to house its vast numbers of homeless residents. And a new law banning public camping is making harder to know who needs help.
Advocates say many homeless are now in hiding after state law legalizes arresting homeless campers, short-circuiting attempts to find traditional housing.
Seniors and children make up more than 40% of the homeless population in Metro Orlando, according to new data released Friday.
The WASH Foundation, which is part of the nonprofit Clean the World, offers its free shower service to anyone who needs it at locations throughout Orange County.
The latest studies indicate that, despite extensive efforts from the public and nonprofit sectors, the number of affordable homes in Central Florida has been falling, even as the overall supply of homes has gone up.
The Orlando City Council unanimously approved a plan Monday to use funds from the American Rescue Plan Act to convert two Greyhound buses into overnight shelters.
A town hall meeting on Thursday evening invites the public to ask questions about the issue of homelessness in east Orange County, and what people can do.
The League of Women Voters of Orange County is bringing attention to the recent changes impacting the homeless community and exploring ways the public can contribute to the solution. On Wednesday, they held a discussion panel titled “Unsheltered: Criminalized and Cast Aside.”
During the two-year gap between closing Daily Bread and opening apartments that will be built for homeless people on Apollo Boulevard called Providence Place, the team will serve the community through mobile outreach like food trucks.
The announcement to drop the shelter plans comes after the city conducted an assessment to determine if the facility was viable while exploring ways to work with the community and businesses to address homelessness.
The Daily Bread, a homeless outreach center that served hundreds of people in the Melbourne area is set to close in a matter of weeks, and a meeting Tuesday could finalize the next step.
The Seminole County Sheriff’s Office has made its first arrest of homeless people after a state law banning sleeping or camping on public property went into full effect this January. The camp was on Raven Park property, at U.S. Highway 17-92 and Raven Avenue in the Longwood area.
One week after residents of Orlando's SoDo district expressed disappointment in a perceived lack of transparency about plans for a proposed homeless shelter in their neighborhood, the city commissioner who represents them fielded their tough questions.
Martha Are, CEO of Homeless Service Network of Central Florida, says they submitted HUD Award applications for federal money used to pay renewals for projects, services, and programs for the homeless community in November.
Faced with fast-rising homelessness and a shortage of shelter beds, Orlando officials are eyeing a mobile solution. They’re considering buying two former Greyhound buses, with bunkbeds replacing seats to house up to 20 people in each. The buses go for $175,000 each, with operations expected to cost about $1 million annually.
In a significant move to address homelessness in the region, the Orlando City Council has approved plans for the expansion of the Coalition for the Homeless of Central Florida shelter. This expansion will include a new 9,000-square-foot facility dedicated to providing more resources for unhoused women and children.
Orlando arrested more than two dozen people for camping violations in January, according to an Orlando Sentinel tally of court records for the first month of a tough new law that many feared would lead to criminalizing the unsheltered.
Volusia County on Tuesday became the latest Central Florida jurisdiction to ban camping in public. With a 7-0 vote, the council unanimously approved an ordinance that mirrors the new state law, better known as “Florida’s Camping Ban.”
Law enforcement leaders, mental and physical health officials, homeless advocates and legal experts convened Friday for the first in a series of meetings to look into the increase in the inmate population at the Orange County Jail.
Winter Park will launch a new program on Monday supported by a federal grant aimed at helping its police department connect homeless people with resources to find housing and other services.
With Congressman Maxwell Frost (D) by their side, representatives of local organizations held a press conference in downtown Orlando Wednesday to celebrate a judge's ruling to block President Donald Trump's efforts to pause federal funding, which was followed hours later by the administration rescinding a memorandum from the Office of Budget and Management that had produced more confusion and anxiety about which programs would be impacted by such a freeze.
There’s new pressure to replace a soup kitchen and start building apartments for the homeless. In Melbourne, where helping the homeless has become a big issue in recent years, the city council is calling on the Daily Bread outreach center to close within months, not two years, as previously expected.
Over the next three days, volunteers with the Homeless Services Network of Central Florida will be going out to count how many people are experiencing homelessness.
A federal judge has temporarily blocked a push from President Donald Trump to pause federal funding while his administration conducts an across-the-board ideological review to uproot progressive initiatives.
Ashley Hildebrandt, who has been homeless for eight years, tells News 6 that this week's bitter temps have gotten to her.
The Homeless Services Network of Central Florida organizes the annual Point-in-Time Count for Orange, Osceola and Seminole counties. Over Jan. 28-30, volunteers find people experiencing homelessness and ask them to take a survey. The agency says they need more help.
Snow is breaking records in Florida and a new t-shirt commemorates the weird weather and raises money for people experiencing homelessness in Florida. And if it's too cold to get a t-shirt, warmer options are available too.
HB 1365 does allow counties or cities to designate an area for public camping, but so far, no Central Florida government has designated an area for camping. So if people experiencing homelessness can’t sleep or camp outside, where should they go? In Seminole County, there’s only one homeless shelter: The Rescue Outreach Mission.
This story is part of a collaborative initiative of independent local news outlets working towards a more informed and engaged Central Florida.
It’s been a problem some say has gotten worse in recent years, now once again, Melbourne is talking about what to do about the homeless population.
A new state law restricting individuals from sleeping on public property is shaking up communities across Florida but has also inspired an unprecedented journalism collaboration uniting 10 news outlets to tell the complex stories behind the issue.
WKMG News 6 is joining 9 other local news outlets in a regional collaboration to report on the local impact of Florida’s new Unauthorized Public Camping and Public Sleeping bill (House Bill 1365), set to be enforced on Jan. 1.
Central Florida faces a stark “math problem” when it comes to addressing homelessness. Available resources simply don’t add up to meet the demand. The challenge has been further complicated by new legislation known as the Florida Homelessness Reduction Act, which went into effect last October.
The Homeless Services Network of Central Florida says the number of people experiencing unsheltered homelessness in Orange, Seminole and Osceola counties rose 86% from 2023 to 2024.
A controversial law designed to prevent homeless people from sleeping in public places soon goes into effect in Florida.
Mayor Paul Alfrey announced that the debris had been removed from a “homeless camp” under the Apollo Boulevard bridge near Eau Gallie High School.
A pilot program to beef up security in downtown Daytona Beach is going to stick around. The city first added security guards in the pilot to its Beach Street after seeing an increase in crime and issues with the homeless.
Eric Camarillo with SALT Outreach says the homeless population in Orlando has doubled year over year. Since they started operating at the Christian Service Center in Downtown Orlando in 2020, they’ve received COVID funding from the government, which helped them keep up with the demand. Unfortunately, that is no longer available, leaving them with a $600,000 deficit.
The 4,000-square-foot home is the latest project being built by Villagers For Veterans. Ashley’s House will be a transition home for women veterans who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless.
The Orlando Union Rescue Mission, which is one of Central Florida's largest service providers to the homeless, wants to do something about the housing shortage.
It's the first arrangement of its kind in the state, according to the New Smyrna Beach Police Department: A department pairing an officer with a counselor to go into the woods and visit the homeless regularly, even daily.
The Homeless Services Network released its annual Point-in-Time count for 2024 for Orange, Osceola and Seminole Counties.
There could be more government-sponsored homeless camps coming to Florida because of a new law that could force some cities and counties to create their own spots like this.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis held a news conference Wednesday morning in Miami Beach, where he signed a bill to ban counties and municipalities from allowing people to sleep on public property.
One week after a fire at the Coalition for the Homeless of Central Florida, more than 200 men experiencing homelessness are still displaced.
New York City ranked at No. 1, and the bulk of the list featured cities from California. However, one Florida city made its way onto the list.
Central Florida is known as a top tourist destination in the world, but if you pull back the curtains and look a little closer, you'll also find one of the worst affordable housing crises in the country.
Every week, without fail, employees from BFARR Contractors have been volunteering with the Salvation Army’s Brian Smith Urban Outreach project.
It’s no secret that many people have faced financial struggles over the last few years amid rising costs for simple necessities: groceries, utilities and rent, to name just a few.
This week’s Getting Results Award winner told News 6 that he understands the challenges of getting people off the streets, and because of that, he’s put a new spin on homeless outreach.
Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer joined workers cleaning up litter and debris Thursday to highlight a partnership that’s helping people work out of homelessness.
Central Florida volunteers are working to combat homelessness by gathering data that will help allocate federal resources, understand local trends and inform policy change.
With approximately $3 million in federal funding administered through the HUD Home American Rescue Plan Act, the county is now asking for the public’s input on best to use the money locally.
The Orlando VA Healthcare System announced its “Home for the Holidays” campaign with the goal of finding housing for 100 homeless veterans across Orange, Seminole, Osceola, Volusia and Brevard counties.
Hannah Durocher and Briana Revita are continuing to panhandle in the face of homelessness, despite Melbourne Mayor Paul Alfrey's attempt to stop this practice.
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The city of Orlando is combatting homelessness by investing more than $100, 000 in funds to a transportation and staffing agency that will help people get to work.
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But counties say that with some federal relief funding expiring soon or its status uncertain, it's time to transition residents from expensive hotel rooms to cheaper, more stable housing. California is one of several states, including Washington, that turned to hotels to shelter homeless people as the virus took hold. The department has said it plans to move homeless people out of all 29 hotels by June. Russ Heimerich, spokesman with the state's Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency, says counties have resources to continue housing homeless people in hotels. They say hotel residents have flourished with regular checkups and meals.
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ORLANDO, Fla. – A local coalition fighting homelessness in Central Florida is preparing more resources as Gov. DeSantis' order on certain real estate evictions lifts Thursday, meaning more people could potentially face homelessness. There aren’t enough of them for all of the homeless folks in the community,” Krall said. They also provide resources for about 25 children who need a place to connect for online schooling. At the moment, the coalition is taking in individual volunteers but not group volunteers.
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