With a new year, many of us make resolutions fully intending on keeping them. A few weeks later, we’ve fallen short (again) and put off to next year our worthy goals of losing weight or taking up a new hobby. This year, let’s change this cycle and make and keep a community commitment to solve a local crisis by helping our unhoused neighbors find shelter and dignity.

I have served on the board of the Christian Service Center for over five years, watching as we have increased our services and outcomes. In 2021 we housed about 20 people. Last year, we housed just over 1,500. This remarkable accomplishment is due to the dedication of the staff and our important partnerships with the Homeless Services Network, the City of Orlando and Orange County Government. Each of those 1,500 people is a unique case, and each one required hours of work and expertise to discover the best option for moving the person from the street to a safe dwelling.

While our services have increased, demand has increased even more. As a volunteer at our Access Point, where people come for housing assistance, I’ve seen a significant increase in the number of clients each day. Most clients I see work, but circumstances or bad breaks have forced them out of their home and onto the street. Many sleep in their car. All of them want to be housed. The heartbreaking reality of telling a person that they have to continue sleeping in their car because of a lack of funding is something the staff at the Christian Service Center deals with every day.

As we watch the number of unhoused individuals in our community continue to increase, we must work to find genuine solutions. Laws preventing people from “public camping” have only moved our unhoused population further into the woods or away from downtown, meaning they are less likely to receive needed social services.  Our community’s refusal to build more shelter space leaves unhoused people in the woods instead of offering a safe environment where they can receive services, get a good night’s sleep, find a job and become productive members of our community.

We can expect the demand for housing solutions to continue to grow as the federal government implements planned cuts in funding for various programs. Cuts to permanent supportive housing (PSH), which houses over 1,500 people in our three-county area, will be all but eliminated later this year. Most of the people in PSH have health problems, are elderly, and many are veterans. These people won’t be able to find a job, and estimates are that over 500 of these people will end up on the street. Additionally, as our state government considers cuts to property taxes, we are likely to see impacts to services for children and families, veterans, and those with financial hardships. Combined with our high cost of living, Central Florida is staring down a perfect storm of problems that could leave hundreds more people living in the trees and sleeping in their cars later this year.

Solutions to these problems exist. Our community must commit to creating more shelter space throughout the region. We already face a shortage of at least 400 beds each night. More shelter space is needed near downtown Orlando, as well as in east Orange County and other communities in our region. Our local governments should re-prioritize funding and utilize our tourist development tax (TDT) funds for safety and transportation needs in the tourist corridor. It’s time to stop paying for more space at the convention center, and stop fully funding Visit Orlando’s bloated $100 million budget.

The time is now to call on our local leaders to make bold decisions and change this paradigm. Contact your county commissioner and demand that they work to find ways to increase the number of shelter beds in our community. Show up at neighborhood meetings and encourage people to recognize that shelters are a solution, not a problem. Contact your state legislators to ask for them to work to revise the TDT spending laws so our local governments have more flexibility. As the new year begins, we have many challenges ahead of us. Many of us have already made resolutions, but there’s time to add one more. Let’s all make a resolution this year to make a bold commitment to ending homelessness in our community.

Michael Perkins is a board member of the Christian Service Center in Orlando.

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2026/01/25/commentary-help-the-unhoused-find-shelter-and-dignity/