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About The Proposed Shelter
Below are Facts about the proposed 24/7 Open Access Shelter copied from www.orlando.gov/homelesssupport
Exploring Solutions to the Critical Need for Additional Shelter Space
In November 2024, Orange County and the City of Orlando approved an interlocal agreement to explore the possibility of using the county’s vacant Work Release Center dormitory (located at 135 West Kaley Street) to meet the community’s need for additional shelter space for those experiencing homelessness. This shelter would provide a safe space for individuals to spend the night, without them having to leave each morning, and where during the day they can access services like employment, substance abuse support and mental health services to help them end their homelessness.
As a next step, the city will conduct an assessment of the site to determine if it is economically feasible to fund the necessary upgrades and renovations to ensure the facility can provide a safe, functional and secure setting. We anticipate this process taking several months, likely into spring 2025.
If the assessment confirms it’s economically feasible, the city will conduct a robust community engagement and outreach process that will allow for the public to provide input and feedback. This process will likely begin in the first quarter of 2025.
Moving forward, there will be multiple opportunities for residents learn more about the project and provide their input and feedback. Opportunities to engage will be posted on this website.
Our community has a critical need for additional shelter space. During last January’s count, there were 2,000 people experiencing homelessness in Orange County. Of that group, 759 reported they are unsheltered, meaning they have to sleep outside each evening. These individuals do not have a place to spend the night because existing shelters are operating at capacity, leaving unsheltered individuals to sleep on our streets, in our parks and under bridges.
Currently in Orlando, in addition to capacity challenges at existing shelters, the existing service providers have certain restrictions or requirements for shelter guests that can result in some individuals being unwilling or unable to access the shelter. This may include the guest not being allowed to bring their pet, an unmarried partner, personal items or a requirement to participate in a religious program. Furthermore, our existing shelters do not allow guests or their personal belongings to stay onsite during the day, which results in individuals on our streets during the day with nowhere to go.
Once the basic need for shelter is met, the shelter can help clients end their homelessness and address their other needs, including health care, employment, mental health and substance use treatment.
A well run, shelter will minimize the unsheltered residents’ current impacts on neighborhoods by allowing its clients to remain on campus 24 hours day instead of roaming the streets during the day and sleeping in parks, under bridges and on the street at night.
Offering a variety of shelter types increases the likelihood that more people will come inside, which helps decrease unsheltered homelessness. Different types of programs are needed because everyone’s needs are different.
Why is this shelter different and how will it be operated?
One of the biggest complaints we hear from residents and businesses are regarding those experiencing homelessness who are loitering on their property during the daytime.
Most of our existing shelters do not allow guests or their personal belongings to stay onsite during the day, which results in individuals on our streets during the day, with all of their belongings, with nowhere to go.
The vision for this shelter is to be open during the daytime, in addition to the nighttime, so that it will provide a safe space for individuals to sleep at night, and also remain open during the day, so its clients can get the support they need to end their homelessness and access other services like employment, substance abuse support and mental health services.
Currently in Orlando, in addition to capacity challenges at existing shelters, the existing service providers have certain restrictions or requirements for shelter guests that can result in some individuals being unwilling or unable to access the shelter. This may include the guest not being allowed to bring their pet, an unmarried partner, personal items or a requirement to participate in a religious program. This shelter will not have those same restrictions.
Individuals and the community benefit from the unsheltered being adequately housed and provided appropriate services and by allowing its clients to remain on campus 24 hours a day instead of roaming the streets during the day and sleeping in parks, under bridges and on the street.
Have other communities successfully implemented this type of shelter and how have they overcome concerns from surrounding residents?
Staff and other community stakeholders have looked at successful similar models including the following: The Urban Rest Stop, Jacksonville; Pinellas Safe Harbor, Pinellas County; Grace Marketplace, Gainesville; Camillus House, Miami; and First Step Shelter, Daytona Beach.
Individuals and the community benefit from the unsheltered being adequately housed and provided appropriate services and by allowing its clients to remain on campus 24 hours day instead of roaming the streets during the day and sleeping in parks, under bridges and on the street.
Furthermore, Shelters like these are more cost-effective solutions and require less government subsidies than alternative forms of intervention, such as crisis care, incarceration or institutionalization.
What do you do to ensure safety?
When selecting a non-profit service provider to operate the shelter, the city and county would solicit proposals requiring respondents to address all aspects of the overall operational plans including safety and security measures. An experienced service provider will provide guidance and policies to ensure safety both inside and around the shelter.
Furthermore, one of the city’s top priorities is protecting the safety of our entire community and we have multiple programs across agencies and partners to support this effort, including:
- City’s Unsheltered Response Team – as part of its strategy to address the unsheltered, the city established a Cross-Agency, Multi-Sector Response Team, the City’s Unsheltered Response Team which consists of service providers and city departments working together to proactively address encampments through a services-first approach. This team is charged with leading and managing our services-first, proactive effort to keep our streets safe for all users.
- HOPE Team – engages daily with homeless clients to conduct interventions to quickly assess and link clients to long term housing, health, mental health and other supportive services. Our HOPE team is the first response when a resident calls with concerns about an individual experiencing homelessness.
- Community Response Team (CRT) – part of the Orlando Police Department, in partnership with Aspire Health Partners, provides a new line of first responders -- behavioral health experts -- to respond to residents experiencing a mental or behavioral crisis.
- Downtown Ambassador Program – outreach workers connecting those experiencing homelessness with social services, including shelter, identification, and counseling.
- Orlando Police Department Homeless Intervention Unit– a unit of trained officers, which can be assisted by mental health specialists, whose goal is to coordinate with service providers when interacting with the unsheltered and reduce arrests. The unit takes a lead role in the effort to address and clear encampments through a services-first approach and respond to and address any criminal element that may exist among the unsheltered population.
Why is this an ideal location?
The city has already considered nearly 20 other properties, located throughout the city and will continue to explore all possible options to add additional shelter space throughout the city. Unfortunately, these properties were not viable due to cost, location, size or other factors.
This site is ideal for a number of reasons:
- It's geographically close to our partners at Orlando Health who operate the region's largest indigent care facility for this exact population.
- The facility's former use as a corrections center served an equally, if not more challenging, population - criminal offenders. There is a precedent for this facility at this location serving a challenging population of residents.
- It's adjacent to the larger downtown area - where there is connectivity between our other homeless service providers.
- This building allows us to create a desperately needed solution to the homeless challenge in our community in the most cost-effective way. This facility and the arrangement for the city to secure it from Orange County minimizes construction and renovation costs for a shelter.
Potential impact of the new Florida Law
The new Florida state law, “Unauthorized Public Camping and Public Sleeping,” went into effect October 1, 2024 and prohibits municipal governments from authorizing or otherwise allowing “any person to regularly engage in public camping or sleeping on any public property.”
Once a government is given written notice of any potential violation by a resident, business owner, or the Attorney General, they have five days to take all reasonable actions to address the alleged violation. If the government fails to do so, then the person or business who provided notice can bring a civil lawsuit seeking an injunction to enforce the law.
Our City Unsheltered Response Team currently responds within five days, usually sooner, to concerns about unsheltered individuals. The city’s services-first approach to assisting those unable to find shelter relies on services of the HOPE Outreach Team, Downtown Ambassadors, OPD-Community Response Team and the newly formed Homeless Intervention Unit. This shelter will be an important addition to this approach providing shelter and services to individuals who may otherwise have been arrested or sent to jail for misdemeanor crimes of homelessness (like camping). These arrests only prolong an individual's homelessness by adding a criminal record, fines and loss of personal items to their list of barriers to employment and housing.