Homelessness in Metro Orlando holds steady, but is ‘literally killing’ seniors, advocates say

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This story was originally published in WKMG News 6.

ORLANDO, Fla. – The population of people in the Metro Orlando area living without a home held relatively steady in 2025, according to new data released Friday by the Homeless Services Network of Central Florida.

However, seniors and children are still a large part of the homeless population.

Perhaps the starkest number released: 24% of people struggling with homelessness are 55 and older. More than half are living outside.

Are pointed out that seniors are more likely to have health problems.

“It’s not an exaggeration to say that homelessness is literally killing our seniors,” said HSN CEO Martha Are.

Seniors and children make up more than 40% of the homeless population.

The data comes as a result of the Point-In-Time Count, a kind of census that occurred in January, where volunteers scoured Orange, Seminole and Osceola Counties to survey homeless people about their living conditions.

The effort found 2,781 homeless people, up slightly from the 2024 number of 2,776.

Of those, 1,090 are unsheltered, meaning they live on the streets. Others are in shelters.

Michael Hudson is one of them.

“Find somewhere on the street, yeah. I don’t really care for the shelters they have, I don’t feel safe there, so I’d rather be on the streets with my friends where there’s safety in numbers,” Hudson said Wednesday.

A retail manager by trade, Hudson said he’s been homeless since May and is still trying to find a job.

“The hardest part is getting jobs, when somebody finds out you’re homeless and they don’t want to hire you. I was in retail management for years. I can still do it. I’m intelligent, got a college degree, I know what I’m doing,” he said.

The PIT Count is not an exact measurement of the size of the homeless population. Are points out that people living in their cars, for instance, are harder to find and severely underrepresented.

Finding people like Hudson on the streets was also harder this year because of the state’s public camping ban. On Jan. 1, the ban went into full effect, and residents can now sue any local government that does not enforce a ban on sleeping or camping.

Are said that because of the ban, places where they were historically able to find homeless people for the PIT Count were not there this year. Those places had been cleared out.

“People are intentionally trying not to be found,” Are said.

Hudson said the ban led to sleepless nights because he couldn’t find a safe place.

“It’s really awful,” Hudson said. “We go maybe three or four days before the cops find us and then go somewhere else. We try to find places to hide.“

A News 6 analysis of court records found the Orlando Police Department made 38 arrests related to public camping between January and March.

The only other law enforcement agencies that have arrested someone for public camping are the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office and Apopka Police Department, with one arrest each.

There were some things to celebrate on Friday. Are said more than 5,000 people were placed in housing in 2024, as well as a 29% decrease in the number of young people living without a home.

“There’s no doubt that the regional focus on housing interventions, housing-focused services, is part of why the numbers didn’t balloon,” Are.

However, Are said they still needed at least 1,000 more beds to cover the 1,000 known unhoused people living on the streets.

There is some resistance. Recent efforts to add shelters in Orange County alone resulted in pushback from residents, leading to projects like the proposed SoDo shelter being dropped.

HSN is launching a website to get the community more involved in advocating for more shelters and affordable housing in the community.

Interested people can go to Yes 2 Shelter and Housing.com.