The Coalition for the Homeless unveiled its latest plan this week to modernize its downtown Orlando shelter capacity — a new $60 million building in Parramore resembling a mixed-use apartment.
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But the group still needs financial help before ground can be broken.
The six-story building will replace the coalition’s Center for Women and Families, nearly doubling its capacity with 112 new beds with a mix of apartment-style and bridge-housing units for those awaiting affordable housing.
The proposed sleek look will allow it to better fit into an urban environment, CEO Brad Butterstein said.
“One thing is we want to provide that hope and dignity,” he said. “Aesthetically, in this community, this is going to raise it.”
So far, the group has raised $50 million toward the effort, including about $30 million in subsidies from a mix of the Orange County Government, the City of Orlando, and a federal infusion from Congress. That leaves it $10 million short of its goal for private investment to get construction underway.
Currently, the Coalition’s Center for Women and Families is located at Central Boulevard and Terry Street at what was formerly the newsroom of WFTV Channel 9. The existing building was sold to the City of Orlando, which hasn’t announced a plan for its reuse to this point, and the new facility will be built next door.
The L-shaped building would front on Parramore Avenue and extend down Ossie Street.
Beyond the infusion of new beds, the facility is expected to include a new kitchen and dining facility to serve about 337,000 meals annually, an on-site clinic able to offer medical, dental, and mental-health services, as well as accredited children’s and youth services, day services, and rapid rehousing.
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“What we’re trying to do is that when somebody comes in off the street and comes into our intake and into our program, we want to provide them every resource that we can here,” Butterstein said.
The plan comes at a time when the region’s homelessness count has skyrocketed in recent years, with local officials estimating a shortage of roughly 1,000 shelter beds across Orange, Seminole and Osceola counties to accommodate people who sleep outside or in their cars on a given night.
But creating that space has proven challenging, with plans for two new shelters in the city limits abandoned in recent years after fierce neighborhood opposition. Orange County last week hosted its first community meeting for a proposed shelter specifically for single adults on Goldenrod Road in east Orange County, which would create about 150 new beds.
The expanded Coalition plan would help meet a city goal of ensuring no women and children sleep on its streets. Its current facility housed 151 children last year from 80 households, Butterstein said.
On average, people stay at the existing shelter for 144 days and 80% leave for permanent housing, according to data from the Coalition.
The government subsidy breakdown comes to about $18 million from Orange County, about $10 million committed from the City of Orlando and $3 million secured by Rep. Maxwell Frost, D-Orlando. A further $20 million of private money has also been locked in so far.
“We’re moving the needle,” Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings said. “It takes a collaboration between government, the private sector and the philanthropic sector.”
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