ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – It’s been close to a year since the passage of the state ban on public camping. A district commissioner says
Zenep Portway, executive director of Samaritan Resource Center, says it’s been challenging for their outreach groups to locate those who are homeless, but they’re also seeing a troubling trend of more youth and seniors on the streets.
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“For those who are experiencing, homelessness is a traumatic experience,” Portway said.
“People are being moved around, it gets tougher to locate, then it gets harder to find where they went next because they don’t have a choice,” she added.
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In October 2024, the state banned local governments from allowing people to camp or sleep on public property. In January, the state allowed people to sue local governments that did not deal with public camping complaints.
Local governments, like Orange County, passed an ordinance earlier this year making it illegal for people to sleep or camp in public places.
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According to data from the county, 118 total complaints have been made to either Orange County’s 3-1-1 line, or the offices of elected officials, or the county’s homelessness services office, since Jan. 8.
Of those, 63 complaints were about people on county property, while 55 complaints were about people on private property or in incorporated parts of Orange County.
While the Orange County Sheriff’s Office has not arrested anyone, 137 arrests have been made under the “camping prohibited” charge in the cities of Orlando, Apopka, Ocoee and Winter Park since the beginning of the year.
District 5 Commissioner Kelly Martinez Semrad said the current situation in 2025 is that in Orange, Seminole and Osceola counties, they are seeing a 156% increase in homelessness since 2022.
In Orange County, 1,972 people have been identified as homeless, according to the annual census known as the Point in Time count.
About 746 of those counted as homeless in Orange County are unsheltered, while 1,226 are in either emergency shelters or some other form of housing.
“We know about 40% of our seniors and youth,” said Semrad.
Portway says they are also seeing more youth ranging from 18 to 22 years old, many looking for a place to stay.
Semrad says one of the reasons it’s been difficult to locate those who are homeless is because they are going deeper into the woods.
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“We have to start talking about issues and coming up with solutions to solve them, and it has to start with our housing inventory,” said Semrad.
They both say the biggest reason why it’s important to find those who are homeless is to provide resources that could eventually lead to stability, but even that takes work, which is why they have to locate them.
“That all requires relationship building, trust building and getting to know someone,” said Portway.
Semrad says they will have a roundtable forum over the State of Homelessness this Thursday at 6 p.m., at the Orange County Administration Building at 201 S Rosalind Ave.