ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – The Homeless Services Network released its annual Point-in-Time count for 2024 for Orange, Osceola and Seminole counties.
The network released those results at a news conference on Wednesday where CEO Martha Are issued an urgent call to action after the PIT count found a 28% increase in the number of experiencing homelessness in 2024.
“We need to be bold, we need to act quickly,” Are said. “We need to act very quickly.”
This year saw an increase of 625 more people experiencing homelessness compared to 2023.
“Our region identified 2,883 people experiencing homelessness,” Are said.
Orange County had the highest count with 2,091 people experiencing homelessness in 2024. Seminole County also saw an increase with 440 people in 2024 compared to 274 in 2023. Osceola County saw a small decrease of 5 people in 2024 from 358 to 353; however, that decrease may not be wholly accurate.
Are said Osceola County had some access issues to day-of services such as meal-sharing programs.
“We know that we had a more substantial undercount in Osceola than we did in the other counties,” Are said.
According to the PIT count, 1,201 of the 2,883 people included in the count were unsheltered. Are said that number is up 105% from 2023.
“They were on our streets,” Are said. “They were sleeping in cars. They were under the overpasses.”
Are also said the group was alarmed by the number of elderly people impacted by homelessness, especially elderly women.
The PIT count found that 718 people were over the age of 55 and 195 were over the age of 64.
“If you can imagine a 72-year-old, 77-year-old woman who has never been homeless in her life, doesn’t know anything about the system, hadn’t planned for this at all, thought things were going to be OK, could never have planned on her rent going up $500 in a year, who suddenly finds herself out on the streets and having to figure out where to go and how to ask for help,” Are said.
Are said one of the biggest factors to impact the rise in homelessness is a lack of affordable housing units.
“We need 94,000 units,” Are said. “Of those, we need 56,000 for households that are extremely low income.”
Are also mentioned the tri-county area lost sleeping accommodations in the past year. She said our area is down 373 beds.
“We’re also at a point where all the jurisdictions have to do more,” Are said. “All the members, all the citizens, all the businesses and neighbors in our communities are going to have to do more.”
Director of Development for the Coalition for the Homeless of Central Florida, Trinette Nation, said affordable housing is one of the main reasons why people come to them for help.
“We’ve seen an increase here in the numbers of individuals and families who come to us for services,” Nation said. “Right now, we are in the middle of an affordable housing crisis.”
The Coalition for the Homeless of Central Florida offers a multitude of services for people experiencing homelessness or housing insecurity including helping people find alternatives as opposed to entering shelter, resume building and outreach to families.
While they try to help people find alternatives to shelters, if someone needs to, they are able to live on the coalition’s campus.
The coalition also helps people who may not want to come to their campus for assistance.
“If somebody may not want to come onto our campus, they may not want to follow the rules we have very strict rules here, we are able to provide them with hygiene kits, with clothing, socks, underwear, with so many resources that they might not have otherwise through those outreach programs,” Nation said.
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