ORLANDO, Fla. — Members of the Orlando City Council gave the go-ahead to fund a project that would help house the city's homeless.

The new program is called 407 Connect and is expected to transform two 45-foot buses into temporary shelters for the unhoused.

What You Need To Know

  • The city of Orlando is voting on the 407 Connect proposal that would convert two 45-foot buses into temporary shelters for roughly 40 homeless individuals

  • The city’s goal is to connect more than 400 homeless individuals to permanent housing over the next three years

  • For the 40 individuals being accommodated, the buses will give them access to sleeping pods, showers and restrooms

  • The concept was inspired by the Vero Beach “Dignity Bus,” which essentially serves a shelter on wheels

The city is committing $350,000 from the Accelerate Orlando Initiative's federal ARPA funds and nearly $3.9 million will come from the Community Redevelopment Agency.

Through this program, the city of Orlando is paving the way toward a decentralized approach to homelessness, with the goal of connecting more than 400 people to permanent housing over the next three years.

It would do so by temporarily sheltering approximately 40 individuals at a time between the two custom-fabricated buses, which will be equipped with beds, bathrooms and showers.

The 407 Connect project, which is a direct partnership between the city of Orlando and the Christian Service Center, would also provide case management to those temporary guests to get them housed as quickly as possible.

This also comes about two weeks after the city scrapped its plans for a new homeless shelter in the city’s SoDo district.

Residents in the area strongly opposed the 24/7 low-barrier shelter that would have accommodated close to 300 homeless individuals.

A group called Stop SoDo Shelter wound up with more than 1,500 members — some of whom actively petitioned against the shelter, while others placed yard signs throughout the neighborhood.

The initial plan was to convert what used to be the Orange County Work Release Center on Kaley Avenue into a low-barrier homeless shelter.

At the time, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer said in a statement that while the location was determined to not be “feasible,” the city was working to fund homeless service providers and initiatives to increase affordable housing.

Christian Service Center Executive Director Eric Gray, who has been working on the project for some time, believes the bus project a win-win.

“Shelters are always a positive addition to any community, just in the same way that having a fire station or hospital or grocery store is a positive addition," he said. "Some people don’t feel that way. So, in this case, this is a shelter on wheels. So if somebody in the community has a problem with it, we just move it to another location."

Gray says a decision has not been made on where the buses will be parked, especially with concerns it would only be centered around the Parramore community.

"The concern that all our social services are centered around one community is always going to be a concern that I would share as well," he said. "We have a need for at least another 1,000 emergency shelter beds in the Orlando/Orange County area, minimum."

Gray says he's hopeful the program will be up and running by June.