Housing nonprofit launches new effort to address youth homelessness in Central Florida

Yasmine Arencibia used to live out of her car, working as a shift manager for McDonald’s, struggling to make ends meet.

She became homeless at 19 years old, but wasn’t able to get connected with help until she was 23, in part because she wasn’t aware of the local resources available to her. There’s also the existing stigma around homelessness, which she says can be another barrier.

“When you’re homeless and you’re in that sensitive position, you don’t want to open up to nobody,” Arencibia, who’s now 24, told Orlando Weekly. “When you get treated like a person, regardless of the circumstances that you’re in, people open up,” she said.

Initially, after searching for local resources, Arencibia found short-term housing assistance through Impower, a nonprofit in Seminole County.

Today she works for AmeriCorp and with the Homeless Services Network of Central Florida, where she is working on a new program to address youth homelessness in the region. She also sits on the board of the Youth Action Society, which helps guide the work that the Homeless Services Network does in outreach to young adults.

For Arencibia, the new program, funded by federal and state dollars, is her way of giving back and giving hope to others who are in a position she was once in herself: feeling hopeless, stuck and confused about how and where to even find assistance.

“I fell in love with the idea of helping people and making a difference in my community,” said Arencibia, who hopes to go to college one day to study journalism and social work.

“I want to be that blessing to somebody. I want to be that hope for somebody that I didn’t have years ago.”

As homelessness in Central Florida continues to climb, the Housing Services Network of Central Florida, launched a new initiative on Tuesday to address youth homelessness, in collaboration with other community partners.

The Brighter Days community initiative, stretching across the Orange-Osceola-Seminole County region, will target homelessness among older teens and young adults.

According to the Orange, Osceola and Seminole County school systems, there were at least 427 students aged 16 and up in the tri-county region who were homeless this past school year, doubled up with another family, or living in hotel rooms. All of these teens were identified as “unaccompanied,” meaning they were not living with a parent or guardian.

Over the past year alone, the Homeless Services Network shared, over 1,500 young adults aged 18 to 24 sought housing assistance either through them or another community partner.

The goal of this new program, according to the HSN, is to help “change the trajectory” of young people’s lives through early intervention. Early intervention, they believe, could help to prevent young people from spending the rest of their lives living on the street, in their cars, in shelters or in other unsafe structures.

Martha Are, CEO of the Homeless Services Network, said on Tuesday that an annual count of homeless people in the tri-county region, conducted in January, found that many of the region’s unsheltered adults first began experiencing housing instability when they were young — in their late teens or early 20s.

“It happened at a point in their life when something devastating happened, or they were kicked out of a family home, they left foster care, or sometimes parents pass away,” Are said during a program launch event at the Second Harvest Food bank just west of downtown Orlando. “Suddenly, these young adults find themselves on their own, without the social supports needed to help them remain in housing.”

Many older adults that volunteers spoke to during the region’s annual Point in Time count reported becoming “trapped” early on, according to Are, in what she described as a “vicious cycle of trauma and victimization.”

On the streets, people without anywhere else to go have a higher risk of experiencing sexual assault and other forms of violence, according to research on the subject.

Homeless people often lack health insurance, and can therefore face cost barriers to healthcare, increasing the risk for chronic health conditions and poor health outcomes.

According to the Homeless Services Network, 60% of homeless young adults age 18 to 24 identified through this year’s point-in-time count said they had been homeless for one year or more.

The new Brighter Days Initiative, funded by a $8.4 million federal grant and a $1 million appropriation from the state, will offer a comprehensive approach towards addressing homelessness among young people, according to the HSN.

The program will offer housing options such as temporary housing, rapid rehousing (short-term), host homes and rental assistance for up to 36 months of permanent supportive housing (a form of housing that is coupled with social and behavioral health services for people with complex needs).

But, in addition to that, the program will also expand available Youth Drop-In Centers across the tri-county region, through the HSN and partnered organizations such as Zebra Youth (which serves LGBTQ+ youth), Impower, Covenant House, and Service and Love Together (SALT).

Drop-in centers serve to help connect people with available community resources for food, healthcare, and education and employment opportunities. They also offer other basic services for those who have little, such as laundry, crisis counseling, showers and a place to charge your phone.

Other supportive services offered through the program will include diversion and street outreach in order to raise awareness of the program and what it offers, according to the HSN.

Arencibia, one of the young nonprofit staffers with lived experience, said this wide array of community resources “really changed my life.”

While an influx of federal and state funds will help expand the nonprofit’s programming and capacity for serving homeless youth, she is someone who was helped early on, and says she’s “living proof that this program works.”

Ellease Cabrera, a 26-year-old mom of two who also now works for the HSN, similarly credits local community organizations for helping her find a stable housing situation after leaving an abusive relationship. Before that, she was unsheltered, living in her car, in garages and abandoned buildings, or couch-surfing.

She had her first baby — her young daughter, Legacy — at 21. While pregnant, she was living in an abandoned house in Kissimmee that didn’t have air conditioning. She went into labor early, although fortunately, her baby ended up being “perfectly healthy.” She remained in an abusive relationship that she says first began when she was 17.

Then, in 2020, she became pregnant again. At that point, she decided she was done putting up with the abuse. “I’m not going to continue the cycle,” Cabrera recalls today.

She didn’t want her nine-month-old to continue to witness her mother being abused where they were staying (with her abusive partner). So, one night, the young mom packed up her things — and her child — and left.

Help didn’t come immediately. She remained homeless for a time with her daughter, without access to services like childcare. There were fewer resources available and accessible during the pandemic.

In a moment of desperation, she tried to steal $36 worth of food to feed her daughter, but was caught by authorities and charged with a misdemeanor. She was court-ordered to see a mental health professional, who diagnosed her with post-traumatic stress disorder and bipolar disorder.

It wasn’t until she called 2-1-1, a local helpline, that she got connected with Impower, like Arencibia did. That program helped her get into a hotel, which at least offered a place for her family to stay, and later into a rapid-rehousing program for two years, which provided her some initial stability and time to begin healing.

As she neared the end of that two-year program, Impower then helped her find a three-bedroom apartment for herself and her two young children, through a cooperative landlord. She also connected with the HSN’s Youth Action Society, which empowered her to become an advocate for herself and others.

“Today I stand before you all as a Superwoman, because I came out of the darkest years of my life as a fierce mother to my babies,” Cabrera shared. “I’m an ally to the community, and I’m working to earn my own money, and I’m a beacon of hope to those who are lost.”

State Rep. Anna Eskamani, D-Orlando, helped fight for the $1 million state appropriation for the Brighter Days initiative, in collaboration with Republican State Rep. Fred Hawkins.

This state money and the federal housing grant allows the Homeless Services Network to expand its capacity — essentially, how many people they can help and provide direct financial assistance to. But the nonprofit also has a call to action for the community.

Residents of Central Florida can donate directly to the nonprofit to help support the program, or at the very least, can help spread the word about it.

The HSN is also looking for sympathetic landlords and property owners with extra space to donate or rent property for the youth and young adults they serve.

You can learn more about the Brighter Days initiative at brighterdayscfl.org.

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This article appears in Jun 5-11, 2024.