HOMELESSNESS

Cilphonose Salomon is a pastor at Eglise De Dieu D’operation De La Benediction. For two decades, he has donated food to those in need.

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.

ORLANDO, Fla. — Homelessness is on the rise across the nation, and while donations to food banks and homeless shelters are usually steady this time of year, they don’t last long. Christian Service Center, a local nonprofit, told Channel 9 the donations it’s getting now have to last for months. According to the Christian Service Center, it receives at least 70% of its food donations in the last six weeks of the year. “We need items that are easily opened for people that don’t have can openers,” Hampton said. “We need pop-top food items.

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.

Russ Beymer knew it would be a challenge to start the newest chapter of HomeAid America in Orlando. That was before a worldwide pandemic changed everything.

A local water park partnered up with Pathway Homes of Florida to help the fight to end homelessness in Central Florida.

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.

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.

A new interlocal agreement creates the Ocala/Marion County Joint Office on Homelessness. The Ocala/Marion County Joint Office on Homelessness inched closer to reality on Tuesday when the County Commission approved an interlocal agreement with the City of Ocala. The governing board, called the Marion County Continuum of Care (CoC), voted 19-13 to create the new agency, called the Ocala/Marion County Joint Office on Homelessness. Meanwhile, the Marion County Homeless Council will continue to serve as the lead agency until the new agency kicks in. It also recommended that the Homeless Council should no longer serve as both the lead agency and as a direct services provider.

A new interlocal agreement creates the Ocala/Marion County Joint Office on Homelessness. The Ocala/Marion County Joint Office on Homelessness inched closer to reality on Tuesday when the County Commission approved an interlocal agreement with the city of Ocala. The governing board, called the Marion County Continuum of Care (CoC), voted 19-13 to create the new agency, called the Ocala/Marion County Joint Office on Homelessness. That vote means the Marion County Homeless Council, which has provided oversight for years, will no longer be the lead agency when the new office opens. Meanwhile, the Marion County Homeless Council will continue to serve as the lead agency until the new agency kicks in.

No rules, no conditions, just a place to live through Housing First, a unique program aimed at helping the chronically homeless find permanent housing with no strings attached. "The shelter system is dangerous and unreliable...people need permanent housing that is not contingent on meeting certain milestones," says Executive Director of the Downtown Emergency Services Center in Seattle (DESC), Daniel Malone. "People deserve time and investment, they deserve something as simple as permanent housing so they can start living." The program has also been shown to have economic incentives for municipalities, proposing that permanent housing for the chronic homeless is more cost effective than paying for their hospital visits, jail time or array of expensive services. "That's just not how it works: people deserve time and investment, they deserve something as simple as permanent housing so they can start living."

After experiencing homelessness, Robert McMurtry is asked a simple, yet surprising question: Do you want an apartment? Watch Anderson Cooper's report "100,000 Homes" and learn why housing the chronically homeless could save taxpayer dollars.