APOPKA, Fla. – The Apopka City Council approved a preliminary plan on Wednesday evening to work with Matthew’s Hope to allow the ministry to park a motor coach (bus) within city limits that will be used as a temporary mobile shelter for homeless people.
“We need to all understand, this is not going to solve the homeless issue,” said Matthew’s Hope Founder, President & CEO Scott Billue. “This is a bridge and it’s a start.”
Wednesday night’s approval vote was unanimous among Apopka’s mayor and four city council commissioners.
According to the Homeless Services Network of Central Florida, Apopka was labeled a hot spot in the group’s 2025 Point-In-Time count — an area of “increasing visibility of homelessness.”
The motion, put forth by Commissioner Nick Nesta and seconded by Commissioner Alexander Smith, allows Apopka Mayor Bryan Nelson “…the authority to work with [City Attorney] Cliff Shepard to use the city property at 320 E 8th Street or other private properties for parking the bus and for Matthew’s Hope to give the City a monthly notice on where the bus will be.”
[RELATED: Stories about homelessness in Central Florida]
Let’s translate all of that, but first, the big picture: this entire proceeding was simply to let the City of Apopka formally go forward with approving Matthew’s Hope Ministries to park a bus overnight within the city limits. That bus would provide food, showers, and shelter for homeless people in that part of Orange County.
Apopka will not supply the buses nor fund the program.
[WATCH previous coverage of the Matthew’s Hope bus proposal]
The first part of the motion says the mayor can work with Cliff Shepard. Shepard serves as the City Attorney for both Apopka and Maitland – this part of the motion means Shepard will guide the mayor (Apopka) on the legal responsibilities of all parties, in essence making sure all the “I’s” are dotted and the “T’s” are crossed and nothing is missed or overlooked.
The second part: 320 E 8th Street. There were four possible locations looked at for parking for the Matthew’s Hope bus:
- 320 E 8th Street (a lot behind the City’s Fuel Island)
- 207 E 8th Street (City Property)
- 112 E Main Street (Apopka City Police Department Parking Lot)
- 21 N Highland Avenue (McBride/Cemetery Property)
[RELATED:Debunking 8 myths about homelessness in Central Florida]
During the debate, the mayor and four commissioners agreed that the Fuel Island location provided the most room for the bus. There was discussion of the bus also parking overnight on private property (i.e. First Baptist church providing meals on a Monday night), but specifics on those plans would be formalized at a later date.
The last part of the motion addressed monthly notice. Here, the city wants Matthew’s Hope to provide a monthly “schedule” of where the bus would be each evening. During discussions Wednesday night, the idea of weekly or even daily schedules was discussed, but all parties agreed monthly would probably be the best middle ground.
“I think that realistically there’s no reason we can’t do it if we have the commitments,” said Billue.
Another subject that came up Wednesday evening was an opportunity for Apopka to help reduce operating costs by providing an electricity drop for the bus. The details: Billue said that if the bus can plug into a 30-amp (minimum) or 50-amp (preferable) power source, it could operate fully on electricity and not need to run its engine while parked (also reducing noise).
“These buses are set up to run off of a generator where you can plug in and they also run off of fuel,” said Billue. “Obviously it’s cheaper to run off of a generator.”
Going forward, with permission to park in Apopka secured, Billue’s next stop is circling back with Orange County. He thinks it’ll be another six months or so before his Apopka bus is ready.
“To have the bus completely done is going to be towards the end of this year,” said Billue. He added, “The main thing that we need right now is going to be a letter from the city basically telling us exactly what this does, saying [and] that we have that commitment for a place to park it.”
Matthew’s Hope is also planning to bring mobile shelter buses to Brevard County.
Meanwhile, the city of Orlando is working with the Christian Service Center to bring mobile shelter buses to the downtown area. Those buses could be ready this summer.
[WATCH video to learn more about the shelter bus plan in Orlando]