Orange nonprofit uses network of local churches to shelter homeless families

Family Promise of Greater Orlando has spent more than 20 years helping people without homes, using a 15-passenger van, a trailer full of cots and a network of welcoming churches. The Orange County nonprofit’s work reduces strain on the region’s limited number of homeless shelters, and homeless advocates say it represents the smaller-scale, creative options Central Florida needs as a growing number of people lack housing. Advocates also say the work helps church congregants see that, in many ways, the homeless are “just like us.”

The organization uses a network of nine Orange churches and its own Winter Park offices to host four families, or up to 14 individuals, at a time. Guests are provided meals and a safe place to sleep, staying one week at each location. Every Sunday, those needing shelter board the van with the cots and move to another host site, which limits the burden or disruptions at any one church.

Family Promise helped nearly 300 people last year and had to refer more than 450 families to other agencies because it was at capacity. Executive director Kathie Southern said that just the previous week, nine families had come to the door needing help. “It’s constant,” she said.

Central Florida does not have enough homeless shelter beds, and officials worry it will need even more when a new state law banning camping in public places takes effect next week. Most existing shelters are in downtown Orlando, have limited capacity and cannot accommodate everyone who needs help. Martha Are, CEO of the Homeless Services Network of Orange County, said the region needs units for families with young children, seniors with chronic health challenges, people struggling with addiction and mental illness, and people with pets they will not leave behind.

The region had 1,094 unsheltered people in the greater Orlando area, according to the 2024 count, nearly a 50% increase from the 587 counted in 2023. Family Promise’s efforts began in 2000 and are funded by more than $80,000 in grants from Orlando and Orange County. Southern said about 70% of families seeking shelter through the program are homeless for the first time. On average they stay about 60 days, and 90% move on to permanent housing.

First United Methodist Church in Winter Park, a city with no shelters, has been a partner for more than 20 years. Program director Victoria Vaden said about 60 volunteers help set up cots in the church’s youth lounge, cook meals for the families and spend time with them in the evenings. Vaden said the program helps families stay together, which shelters cannot always do, since some adult shelters do not accept children and a family shelter may not admit a single father. “I get calls from people looking for housing and if I suggest a shelter model that separates families, they’ll say, ‘no, I’d rather stay in my car than be separated,'” she said.

In July, the four shelter rooms in Family Promise’s offices were refurbished to make them more pleasant for the families who temporarily stay there. The rooms were painted and decorated, and furniture, including a desk and an armoire, was added. Mia Poinsette, executive director of the Poinsette Foundation, which donated $6,000 for the project, said, “The upgrades offer children and their families a more dignified and supportive environment.”

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