“Low by half”

The PIT Count is universally acknowledged to be a gross under-representation of the community scope of homelessness. For instance, it stands to reason that more than 1,972 people are homeless in Orange County given that 1,140 people from West Orange County sought services at Matthew's Hope's Winter Garden location last year, according to Scott Billue, founder of the faith-based homeless outreach organization.

Eric Gray, executive director of the Orlando- and Ocoee-based Christian Service Center, also added that it’s “near impossible” to get an accurate count of people living in their cars, a rising phenomenon now estimated to account for more than 50 percent of those experiencing homelessness. “So you can safely assume the [PIT] count is low by half,” he said by text.

But Are said that while volunteers were out combing the counties, they located far fewer people than expected and many who were found chose not to answer their questions. The PIT Count only reflects people who will answer questions and verify that they are, in fact, homeless.

“There were places where we’ve historically been able to find people and they were not there this year,” Are said during the press conference. “The anti-sleeping bill has resulted in people intentionally trying to find places to be that can’t be found so we know that was a contributor.”

Gray said that the active removal of homeless encampments under the law coupled with fears of arrest have also contributed to people not wanting to be found.

Rooted in Black Codes

The ban on sleeping or camping in public spaces — sidewalks, doorways, park benches, woods, highway overpasses — went into effect Oct. 1, 2024. But the punitive aspect of the law became effective Jan. 1, 2025, allowing any resident, business owner, or the attorney general to sue local governments for not enforcing the ban.

Orange County passed a version of the state law on Jan. 7 that includes penalties of 60 days in jail and a $500 fine. Other West Orange municipalities, like the towns of Oakland and Windermere, passed similar ordinances while Ocoee adjusted its city camping ban to reflect the state statute. Winter Garden, which also bans camping on all public land, is examining its existing ordinances to ensure they are in compliance with the county statute, according to City Manager Jon Williams.

Critics maintain that these kinds of bans criminalize homelessness. The Florida Policy Institute notes the bans stem from the post-Civil War Vagrancy Act of 1866, which was part of the Black Codes enacted to control formerly enslaved people who did not have permanent housing. Florida put its own vagrancy act in place at its 1865 constitutional convention.  

The police and city officials from Oakland, Windermere, Winter Garden and Ocoee who VoxPopuli spoke with indicated that law enforcement was focused on connecting people in need with essential services, not arresting them for vagrancy.

“We’re not just going to arrest them because they’re homeless,” said Mike Bryant, Town of Oakland’s Deputy Chief of Police. “It’s not against the law to be homeless.”

Housing crisis

There's a perception that homelessness is the result of poor decision-making, that "if we make it harder for people to be homeless, then they just won’t be homeless. But the reality is that homelessness is far more complex. It is systemic rather than individual," Marcy Thompson, vice president for programs and policy at the National Alliance to End Homelessness, told VoxPopuli.

“We see more and more people becoming homeless all the time because of things like the affordable housing crisis," she said. "So, I think laws like this [camping ban] are fundamentally flawed because they assume that this is somehow going to incentivize people to make a different choice. And the reality is there aren't other choices. There isn't housing for folks to go back into. There isn't shelter for folks to choose to go to instead.”

Homelessness is multifactorial, but high rents and housing costs certainly contribute. According to USAFacts, Florida has the highest median rent-to-income ratio in the United States — 36.2 percent — which means  residents spend about 36 percent of their income on housing. (Over 30 percent is considered “housing burdened.”)

“The higher the median home value or median rent in a community, the higher the percentage of community population that’s likely to experience homelessness,” said Gray.

He guesstimates that some 30,000 Orange County residents will experience homelessness this year. “This is 2 percent of the total population and this number is likely low,” he said in his text.

But 30,000 is exponentially higher than what the PIT Count revealed. Yet, Gray believes there’s still value in the PIT Count, particularly for service providers to stay connected with individuals experiencing homelessness and to measure change over years. Gray said it’s telling that this year's numbers are fairly similar to last year's despite increases in apartment rents, home values and eviction rates.

“I think the clearing of the camps because of the new state law was the most significant contributing factor," he said.

Billue finds the PIT Count “less useful now that 1365 [the camping ban’s bill number] is in effect,” he said. “But it’s better than nothing, as long as we’re all aware of its flaws.”