A Kissimmee city commissioner wants to use donated land to build permanent housing for homeless families.

John Colon and his family wish they didn’t have to call the U.S. 192 corridor home. “We lived in one, two, three, four… about five hotels I’ve been in,” he said.

Due to his situation, Colon says he can’t afford any other living arrangements.

City Commissioner Jose Alvarez wants to bring the “Housing First” model to Kissimmee. It’s a model he learned about in Utah during a trip with other government officials. He says it's helped eliminate 99 percent of homelessness in Salt Lake City by providing low income housing.

“It gives them a sense of home. It brings them to a real life that they have now and they’re not on the streets,” he said.

And it’s more than that. There’s assistance and services to help families continue in the right direction. “It makes it easier for the case managers to work with these families and to find out what truly is affecting them.”

Lake Toho Water Authority voted in favor of donating about 20 acres of land to Kissimmee.

If approved by the city commission, the property will be used as permanent housing for families. Residents wouldn’t pay more than one third of their income towards rent. And case managers would be on site to help with things like employment and healthcare.

The city commission is looking into doing a study on U.S. 192 to find out how many people actually don’t have homes and who these people are. The study should be completed between January and February of next year.

“It would be nice to get a start where they can have a house to go to, a home to go to and we won’t have to pay so much money,” Colon said.

A plan like this wouldn’t break ground until next year. However Alvarez says it’s a step in the right direction towards ending homelessness.