Central Florida's homeless population fearful of expanded law banning public sleeping

ORLANDO, Fla. - There are thousands of people in Central Florida experiencing homelessness, and even more on the brink of becoming homeless. Now, all of their lives just got more complicated.

A new Florida law says "a county or municipality may not authorize or otherwise allow any person to regularly engage in public camping or sleeping on any public property."

And now that we’re in the new year, people can start suing the local government if the law isn’t enforced.

Andrea Hetchinson said she’s fearful of what this will mean for her and other homeless people she knows.

"You can't tell me I can't sleep on the streets when you're not giving me no place to sleep," said Hetchinson. "Being on the streets every day is a struggle. You don't know where you're going to wake up — if you're going to wake up."

The Orange County Sheriff’s Office says the new law does not come with any instructions for them and homelessness is not a crime.

Still, people living on the streets, like Quattara Jones, say they are made to feel like it is.

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"That's how I feel — like a dirty little secret," she said. "And it's not my fault that I'm homeless."

Jones says she’s fighting with the government over her disability benefits. While her case drags on, she’s stuck sleeping under an overpass.

"The police, they bother us every day," Jones said. "They wake us up. They always tell us, ‘Hey, you can't be here because of the restrictions in the new ordinance.’ But where do they want me to go? I don't understand."

She says that a daily 4 a.m. wake-up call comes with an ultimatum from the officers: move, or go to jail, but she says there’s nowhere for them to go at that time. The Christian Service Center (CSC) and the Coalition for the Homeless don’t open until several hours later.

"They don't want us to sit at the bus station. They don't want us on the sidewalks. We was even told we couldn't be in a patch of grass," Jones recalled.

She isn’t alone in that experience.

"I don't think that you should arrest anyone for just trying to make a living," Hetchinson said. "You're not doing any crimes. You're not causing any problems. You just don't have somewhere to sleep."

Andrea Hetchinson has been unhoused for two years now. She works at T.G. Lee but doesn’t make enough to get ahead.

Find resources for the unhoused:

• Coalition for the Homeless – 407-426-1250
• Feed the Need – 407-665-3022
• Meals on Wheels – 407-333-8877
• Orlando Union Rescue Mission – 407-423-3596
• Salvation Army – 407-423-8581
• Rescue Outreach Mission of Central Florida – 407-321-8224 Ext. 3
• Catholic Charities of Central Florida – 407-658-1818
• Christian Service Center (Daily Bread) – 407-425-2523 

"I work long hours — like at least 10 to 12 hours. So, you know, I'm going to have to sleep. So, until you put me somewhere to sleep, this is where I'm going to sleep."

The CSC says her story is extremely common these days.

The CSC has helped an Army Vet who spent 12 years with the Department of Defense, a pharmacy technician trying to raise her two autistic children, a woman who spent 23 years with Orange County Public Schools.

In 2024, the CSC helped with housing for 411 people.

That’s up from 356 people in 2023 and 92 the year before.

Bryan Hampton, the Director of Development for the Christian Service Center says they’re seeing more and more people who are newly homeless.

"Things happen," Hampton said. "People lose their job or there's a medical emergency and those bills come in, and you just can't make ends meet anymore."

The development director for the CSC says they also do a lot of work in preventing homelessness. Helping people with their utility bills or subsidizing their rent.

And although the rise in the number of people they’ve been able to help is a success story, it also represents how quickly the number of people who need help has risen.

And with significantly more unhoused people than there are beds in Orange County shelters, Hampton says he’s worried about the new law leading to more arrests.

"It really does leave the most vulnerable population in a real quagmire because they can't afford the fines and the jail time. And then when they come here, and we're trying to get them housed or get them a new appointment and now they have a criminal record, it's going to be even harder for agencies like us to actually end their homelessness in that cycle and get them out of that situation."

The City of Orlando granted a developer preliminary approval to convert a Best Western into affordable housing on Colonial Drive.

And the City is in the very early stages in creating a new shelter in the SoDo area.

The City of Apopka just got funding to build 300 affordable housing units.

However, the people FOX 35 spoke with said they don’t know what they’re going to do today.

"We need help," said Jones. "There's no other way around it. We need help."

"I appreciate you and your team hearing my voice, because at least I know someone's listening," said Hetchinson.

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