ORLANDO, Fla. — Experts say food, shelter and many other essentials are becoming increasingly harder to come by for many people across Central Florida. 

The Spectrum News 13 watchdog team is taking a close look at organizations like Second Harvest Food Bank and the financial resources they get from Orange County and the city of Orlando. 

What You Need To Know

  • Orange County and the city of Orlando provide financial resources to nonprofits throughout Central Florida to help combat homelessness

  • Nonprofit organizations like Second Harvest Food Bank and Homeless Services Network of Central Florida use county and city financial resources to provide for people in need throughout Central Florida 

  • While some federal funds provided during the COVID-19 pandemic may be close to running out, local officials say they do have funds that  municipalities provide to these organizations

For the last 22 years Devoy Johnson has called Second Harvest Food Bank his home away from home.

“Right out of high school and I like the mission, so I stuck with it,” Johnson said.

He said that mission is ever so important for one main reason: helping people across Central Florida in dire need. 

“It’s a great feeling on a daily basis seeing the impact we have here in Central Florida to help alleviate hunger,” Johnson said.

He said it’s not just about alleviating hunger, but also helping to prevent people from becoming homeless in the first place. Providing free food takes away an added expense and financial burden, Johnson said..

During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the organization got $5 million from the American Rescue Plan Act.

“Our partnership with Orange County has been kind of a true example of public, private partnership, and what is possible the major part of the funding that we got started during the pandemic when we were as a community struggling,” said Second Harvest Chief Development Officer Gregg Higgerrson.

Spectrum News took a close look at the numbers from Orange County and found that over the last three fiscal years, Second Harvest Food Bank received about $7.5 million.

The Homeless Services Network of Central Florida got about $6.3 million for case management and supportive services to help focus on individual or family growth, and another $4 million for rapid rehousing to help quickly get people into a home, housing intervention, and an Orange County-coordinated entry system to help track progress of those getting services.

Higgerson said the need for resources was extremely great during the pandemic, hence the $5 million his organization got during fiscal year 2022-2023. That increase in financial need also correlated with the increasing number of homeless people in Orange County.

According to the Florida Department of Health, the estimated number of homelessness people went from 1,162 people in 2021 to 2,090 people so far in 2024. Higgerson said that during those crucial pandemic years, every dollar helped. 

“We were forced to up our game here at Second Harvest Food Bank from 150,000 meals a day to 300,000 meals a day very quickly, and we couldn’t have don’t that without a big influx of support very quickly,” Higgerson said.

As for the Homeless Services Network, county leaders say it is costly for HSN to provide the services they offer to county residents. County officials also said all nonprofit partners that receive county funding adhere to a strict oversight process.

“We certainly check the agency,” said Lisa Klier-Graham, the division manager for Mental Health and Homelessness in Orange County. “It’s a very fair process — it’s a stringent procurement process and after the fact, once a contract is in place, we have annual audits. We have monthly audits, we have program outcomes, outcome measurements that coordinators and monitors check every month. They have monthly meetings to make sure the services that we are paying for are going to the right people.”

While Orange County is providing financial help to agencies, so is the city of Orlando — which directs about $4.5 million annually to agencies that help people who are homeless. 

Spectrum News tracked those numbers, too, finding that over the last three fiscal years, the city gave Coalition for the Homeless of Central Florida more than $600,000. Harbor House of Central Florida also received about $600,000.

Lisa Portelli, senior advisor to the mayor for homelessness and social services in Orlando, said the city also has strict oversight protocol. 

“All of the contracts that the city provides in grants have performance measures and deliverables that are required,” Portelli said.

Portelli said city funds are made up partly of federal pass-through dollars as well, and that resources change based on community needs. Earlier this year, the city of Orlando approved more than $100,000 in funding for Coalition for the Homeless to help with growing community needs.  

Johnson said the need is growing for food services provided by Second Harvest Food Bank, too. He said he is hopeful that funding continues to keep up with the growing need. For now, Johnson said he will keep doing his part to serve the people of Orange County.

“We deliver food to seven different counties here in Central Florida, and I just love the way that everyone appreciates what we do,” he said.