Christian Service Center sees bump in number of homeless people they’ve been able to house

ORLANDO, Fla. — A Central Florida non-profit says it’s seen a jump in the number of homeless people it’s been able to help get into stable housing.

“We’ve housed more people in the first four months of this year than I did all of last year,” Executive Director of Christian Service Center Eric Gray said.

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The Christian Services Center is one of many organizations working across Orange, Seminole, and Osceola counties to get people into homes.

Last year, the center said they helped 92 people get off the streets. But, in the first few months of this year, they’ve helped more than 140.

Read: Downtown Orlando ambassador program adds homeless outreach efforts

Gray said a lot of things are coming together to make this possible, including better collaboration between all the local groups that touch homelessness. But he said a lot of the increased success is because of funding they received and a renewed push from the city of Orlando.

The center received $600,000 from the city for hotels, rent, and down payments for new apartments.

Gray said the city also made new funding available to house homeless families, focusing on the Parramore and Holden Heights Kidz Zones. He said its helping to make a difference, but there’s more work ahead.

Read: Orlando to use $58M in federal funds to help support homeless services

“Even with the success we’re having, this is a drop in the bucket,” Gray said.

He said homelessness is still at a historic high, partly because of how expensive rent has gotten and the lack of affordable housing.

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