ORLANDO, Fla. — On July 15, some homeless services provided by SALT outreach, will be suspended.

Organization leaders say it’s because of a loss in funding. The services that will be suspended include showers and laundry.

What You Need To Know

  • Some Homeless services provided by SALT outreach will be suspended on July 15

  • The services that will be suspended include showers and laundry

  • COVID funding helped ensure the future of these services for a short time. But now the money that was expected just simply is no longer there

Eric Camarillo, executive director of SALT, said direct services in downtown Orlando are funded by donations, not grants, and all of this is due to the delay of a corporate sponsor’s gift.

He’s now calling on the community to step up and help.

“These services going away is going to make it that much harder for people to end their homelessness,” Camarillo said. 

80 showers a day, 50 loads of laundry a day, all gone on July 15. COVID funding helped ensure the future of these services for a short time. But now, the money that was expected is no longer there.

“Last year we got about $800,000, $750,000 to maintain this operation,” said Camarillo. “This year we only got $200,000. That’s mainly for our case management team. So that’s about a $600,000 deficit that we’re having to come out of pocket for to maintain these services.”

This decision to scale back comes at a time when Camarillo says more people than ever before need these services.

“We’ve seen a 50% increase in new people to our services this year compared to last year. So last year 3,000 different people. 2,000 were new to our services,” he said. 

But not all hope is lost.

“Funding was approved by the Christian Service Center to turn this building into a drop-in center with showers inside, laundry inside. We won’t see that until next year,” Camarillo said. 

During times of uncertainty, he holds onto his faith. It’s what drives him to keep moving forward.

“We always have you in mind. We’re all very sad that this has to happen,” Camarillo said. 

From now until the end of September, SALT is doing their summer SALT fundraiser. The goal is to raise $200,000.

They need that money and a little bit more for a chance at possibly reopening these facilities this year.

Christian Service Center, a nonprofit dedicated to preventing homelessness, says this news is heartbreaking.

SALT outreach operates near their property and they’re doing everything they can to help them during this time.

One major way how is by helping with managing mail.

“We are constantly working with them on how we can do better and support them for that particular service,” said Carla Cox, director of Operations for Christian Service Center. 

Cox says her day services manager is doing training with the SALT outreach team to see how 400 people can get their mail on time.