Local News |

New initiative aims to house Central Florida’s homeless teens

A new initiative to help homeless teenagers and young adults has tripled the number of beds available in Central Florida, but the region needs more as the homeless population surges, advocates say.

The Brighter Days Community Initiative, announced this week, is the first in the area to focus solely on teenagers and young adults ages 16 to 24.

This segment of the population often cited safety concerns when seeking refuge in adult shelters, according to Aja Hunter, youth project director at the Homeless Services Network of Central Florida, which is running the new effort with other community organizations.

The initiative, funded by a federal grant, wants to find more hotels, apartments and even spare rooms in residents’ houses to help provide more young people with a safe place to live. It has already added 180 beds for teens and young adults up from 70 previously available, but that still falls short of the demand.

Last year, 1,529 young adults sought housing assistance in Central Florida, and the school districts identified 427 students older than 16 who were homeless.

Earlier this month, the homeless network announced the Orlando area faced a homeless crisis with a “raging river of people who are asking for help” because of rising housing costs.

Hunter said parents are losing their homes because of rising rent and leaving their older teens and young adults to fend for themselves.

“They are sleeping in cars or couch surfing and not having consistent housing,” Hunter said.

The Brighter Days effort began in 2022 with a $8.4 million federal grant awarded to the network. To secure all the funding, the group needs to raise an additional $1 million in matching funds.

State Rep. Anna Eskamani, D-Orlando, who helped the network get state money for the initiative, said it needs to be creative as it looks to expand housing options.

“Find types of units that maybe status quo wouldn’t consider housing options, but as long as they are safe and air conditioned and meet basic health standards, then we absolutely should consider that as a housing option,” Eskamani said.

Yasmine Arencibia was 19 years old when she became homeless. She was working as a shift manager at McDonalds and living in her 2007 Honda Civic.

At night, she would park in unattended parking garages and climb into the back seat to sleep.

“My windows weren’t tinted, so I had to try and cover them with pillows. I didn’t live in a good neighborhood. A lot of people would knock on the windows. It was scary,” said Arencibia, who now serves on the Brighter Days youth advisory board.

She had a membership to Planet Fitness, where she would shower, and a storage unit for her belongings.

When she was 23, she applied for housing assistance through Impower, one of the organizations which teamed up with the Homeless Services Network for the new initiative.

Impower provided housing and mental health support and also helped Arencibia earn her high school diploma and learn life skills, like how to balance a budget.

Brighter Days aims to provide similar wraparound services, such as childcare, transportation and help with paying utilities.

The initiative also funds a drop-in center, where the youth homeless can drop-in to receive crisis counseling and peer support, or a free meal and a hot shower.

But the most immediate objective is to find them a home.

“When you provide the housing up front, it gives people a leg up as they continue on their path towards success,” said Hunter.

The challenge with a housing first approach, however, is the lack of affordable housing in Central Florida.

In 2019, the median monthly rent for a two-bedroom apartment in the Orlando area was $1,264. It has since climbed to $2,011 a month.

Brighter Days has used its grant money to pay for rooms in hotel and apartment complexes and is looking for property owners with spare rooms or garage apartments interested in becoming hosts to a homeless teen or young adult.

Unlike previous programs, a person doesn’t have to be homeless to apply for assistance. Instead, they they can ask for help earlier, when struggling to pay rent and utilities.

“If we can step in now, we have an opportunity to provide our youth with an education, a career path and a chance to become self-supporting tax paying citizens,” said Martha Are, the network’s CEO.