ORLANDO, Fla. — The Homeless Services Network of Central Florida will begin its annual homeless Point-in-Time Count surveying the Greater Orlando counties of Seminole, Osceola, and Orange counties on Tuesday. 

What You Need To Know

  • The 2025 Point-in-Time Count done by the Homeless Services Network of Central Florida will take place on Jan. 28, 29, and 30

  • Homeless Services Network of Central Florida CEO Martha Are said this year they have more than 300 volunteers who have signed up for the count

  • This data obtained with the count is critical to understanding the scope and trends of homelessness, and it helps to guide local leaders as they make policy and funding decisions

  • Volunteers’ findings have to be reviewed before being submitted to HUD. Are said she expects a final report to be published in the spring

The count is a requirement of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to estimate the number of people experiencing homelessness in an area. This year the count will happen on Jan. 28, 29, and 30.

Homeless Services Network of Central Florida CEO Martha Are said this year they have more than 300 volunteers who have signed up for the count. Volunteers are trained and then scheduled in groups – the schedule consists of four shifts on each day.

The Point-in-Time Count helps HUD determine how much money the local organizations need to address local homelessness. Are says as the cost of housing continues to go up, and no additional shelters are being built, they expect the number of homeless people this year to be higher than prior counts.

“When somebody loses their housing by default, they end up unsheltered. They end up on our streets or in places that were never designed for people to sleep. So those numbers went up significantly, we believe, based on all of our other interactions and data, that those numbers have continued to rise,” she said.

However, she mentioned it’s going to be harder to find people this year because they’re hiding after the new legislation that went into effect, prohibiting people from camping in public places.

“It’s not a very accurate count. There are a lot of things that make it that can contribute to inaccuracies ranging from what the weather is like, how cold it is, whether or not there’s rain. And then in our cases here, one of the influencing factors will be the new legislation that has really impacted has pushed people off of public property,” Are said.

To get people off the streets, Orlando city leaders are considering turning a former work release center on Kaley Street into a homeless shelter.

The idea would be to use it as a 24-hour-a day seven-day-per week low-barrier homeless shelter with about 300 beds – but the proposal has received some pushback from residents.

Are said there’s a disconnect between how many people have moved into the community and the inventory of housing not being able to keep up.

“I believe that our community will respond and help with making not only more shelter opportunities is available overnight, sleeping accommodations available but also to make more affordable housing available,” she said.

Are said the fastest growing groups of people experiencing homelessness are children under the age of 18 and seniors over the age of 55.

Volunteers’ findings have to be reviewed before being submitted to HUD. 

Are said she expects a final report to be published in the spring.