As homelessness rises, Orlando may invest $6 million in Christian Service Center renovation

Orlando city commissioners are being asked to OK funding for a renovation to the Christian Service Center, which would add indoor showers, mailboxes, laundry, charging stations and a long-sought comprehensive day center, creating a one-of-a-kind support facility focused on fast-tracking unsheltered people into housing.

The renovation brings about a $6 million price tag with $4 million from the city’s Accelerate Orlando account and about $1.1 million from the Community Redevelopment Agency, a special taxing district downtown. The CRA also would cover $900,000 in operating costs over three years, officials said.

The nonprofit sits on two acres next to Exploria Stadium and largely serves as Ground Zero for Orlando’s fight against homelessness, in a historic neighborhood frustrated with the growing population of unsheltered people sleeping on the streets.

The agency already provides a host of services for the unsheltered during the day, and serves as a “front door” for people sleeping in cars or on the streets. The renovation plan doesn’t include overnight shelter beds, but would allow the nonprofit to better serve its clients during its regular daytime hours, CEO Eric Gray said.

“Right now we’re doing it literally with duct tape and string. We’re holding together a couple of buildings that were originally constructed in the 1940s,” Gray said.

Gray said the agency plans to renovate two of the four buildings on its campus, home of the nonprofit since the 1980s, to make many of those services permanent, as well as to make the campus safer, more appealing and efficient.

For decades, city code may have prevented such a project from consideration. Rules in the “Parramore Heritage Overlay,” which covers the neighborhood west of Interstate 4 blocked new homeless shelters, treatment centers and other facilities from opening in the neighborhood, but leaders of long-established nonprofits feared it prevented them from upgrading their existing facilities.

That code was revised last year by the city council, allowing agencies operating there since before 2010 to expand operations on their current property, or move within 300 feet of it.

Gray said the renovation won’t include an increase in square footage or any expansion, but just better use of its existing space.

The city would be covering the total cost of the renovation and some operating costs, under the proposed plan. Gray said the Christian Service Center agreed five years ago to take on the challenge of forming a day center, and had done so without government support. To meet the growing need, the renovation is necessary, officials said.

Denise Rosa, 52, sleeps in front of Exploria Stadium each night and is a regular at the Christian Service Center. Thursday afternoon, she was seated under the large white tent in the parking lot near the showers and laundry trailers she uses regularly, watching over a friend’s belongings, alongside dozens of others who are unsheltered.

Rosa said she’s slept on the streets for years, and feels safe visiting the Christian Service Center for meals. She recently used the on-site medical clinic for swelling in her foot.

“Everywhere else is far away,” she said. “We don’t always have money to do that. It’s expensive. You need a bus pass.”

One of the buildings to be renovated is its a 6,000-square-foot Fresh Start Building that will have showers and restrooms as well as space for people to store belongings overnight rather than keeping them in shopping carts on the street, and a larger mail facility, Gray said. Today, shower trailers from SALT Outreach are parked at the campus, as well as portable toilet stalls. The Christian Service Center has about 500 people who receive mail there, he said.

The other building currently sits vacant and will be transformed into a medical center, Gray said, with a focus on mental health.

Other work on the campus will include lighting, parking, fencing and other needs to bring the facility up to modern code, Gray said.

Money for the shelter’s renovations will comes from the city’s Accelerate Orlando account, created last year with the city’s allotment of $58 million from the American Rescue Plan, and dedicated to funding affordable housing projects and expanding homelessness programs.

Commissioner Regina Hill, who represents the neighborhood on city council, held a series of community meetings with business owners and residents of the neighborhood about the proposal.

She said she heard concerns, which she shares, that the day center may draw more unsheltered people to Parramore, and that more options need to be available to house people after the Christian Service Center service day ends. The Coalition for the Homeless and Salvation Army have shelter beds in the neighborhood, which are normally at capacity. The city and various nonprofits also pay to house people temporarily in hotels and apartments as part of its “housing-first” strategy.

“I do support services, but I also do stand with the community for an immediate need for after 5, whether that be housing or shelter,” she said. “I know doing nothing isn’t the solution, but I want to hear more about how we can accommodate the concerns of the residents.”

In the coming year, the city expects to dedicate more of the Accelerate Orlando funds to expanding its day services offerings with Pathways Drop-in Center, the Coalition for the Homeless and the Salvation Army, said Lisa Portelli, Mayor Buddy Dyer’s senior advisor on homelessness.

“Seventy-five percent of the people who go into shelter or go into housing have accessed a day center before their entry point,” she said.

Gray said the Christian Service Center, which has “rescued” 1,482 people from homelessness in Central Florida, and 310 in Parramore through November, could see a decrease in people visiting the campus daily, but see more people annually with the renovation.

The boost in services is needed as the region has seen a 75% rise in homelessness since 2019, according to Martha Are, CEO of the Homeless Services Network of Central Florida. Increases follow nationwide trends fueled by fast-rising rents, a severe shortage of affordable apartments and stagnant wage growth.

“What we know is that the number of people experiencing homelessness is increasing so rapidly,” Are said in a statement. “And while we need more programs in more diverse locations — and we absolutely need more affordable housing — it’s also important that the projects we already have are modernized so that they can help more people and do so more effectively and efficiently.”