An Orange County work-release center once proposed for reuse as a homeless shelter is set to be torn down after county commissioners voted against adapting the site.
Orange County commissioners voted 5-1 Tuesday to move forward with demolition, instead of spending an estimated $20 to $35 million needed to fix structural and electrical issues in the nearly 45-year-old building. County Commissioner Kelly Martinez-Semrad cast the lone dissenting vote.
According to county staff, the deteriorating 57,198-square-foot building at 130 W. Kaley St. was designed to be used as a single-gender correctional facility, not a shelter.
Making renovations to bring the building up to code for shelter use would require “significant investment,” said Orange County capital projects manager Sara Flynn-Kramer, who told county commissioners that it would be less expensive to demolish the building and start fresh.
The building has sat vacant since 2020, but has cost the county upward of $175,000 to $200,000 each year in operating costs to maintain it since.
“We can’t continue to spend money on something that we’re not using,” said Commissioner Mike Scott, whose district includes the property.
Commissioner Nicole Wilson, while sympathetic to the need for new shelter housing, was similarly satisfied with county staff’s explanation in favor of demolition. “The idea of using a substandard structure for something that we all know is a necessity isn’t sufficient for me,” said Wilson.
“If it’s a substandard structure and it is something that is unsafe, we’re not going to use it in that condition — and that is something I want you to feel comforted by,” she added, speaking to shelter advocates in the audience who had spoken against demolition. “It doesn’t mean we want to sell the site to a high bidder. It actually means that we may end up with a more optimal use on that property.”
Demolishing the property — while leaving the parking lot intact for use by the Supervisor of Elections office across the street — would cost the county an estimated $400,000, Kramer said in Tuesday’s meeting.
The county-owned facility was previously eyed by the city of Orlando as a shelter before nearby residents who were concerned about the potential impact on property values and crime shot down the idea last year.
“The neighborhood opposition has just been overwhelming,” Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer stated candidly last spring, after the city was granted the right to make necessary renovations.
Now, Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings says the future of the site will be determined by Orange County’s incoming mayor and commission. Demings will be succeeded by county mayor-elect Tiffany Moore Russell, who takes office on Nov. 17.
Moore Russell told Orlando Weekly during her campaign in August she supports investing in more temporary housing shelters and permanent housing solutions. She noted that some of the existing shelters in Orange County are insufficient both in meeting demand and in meeting the needs of those they serve.
However, it is still unknown what the outcome of the former work-release center on Kaley Avenue will look like. In Tuesday’s commission meeting, there was talk of the site becoming an eight-story government office complex, while some residents and volunteers organized with the grassroots group Support Orlando Shelters criticized the demolition plan outright.
“This is a resource we cannot afford to waste,” said local resident Lisa Worth. “This building can be used to mitigate the suffering we clearly see in our own community. I’m asking you to please remember: Your most vulnerable citizens need help now.”
Kramer made clear the county doesn’t plan to sell the property and plans to repurpose it for another county use that is yet to be determined.
No one denied the need for additional shelter space, although Mayor Demings argued the county has put more funding into social and homeless services — $56 million in the 2024-2025 fiscal year alone — than any other municipality in Central Florida.
The number of homeless people identified in Central Florida earlier this year through an annual survey remained relatively stable compared to 2025, but advocates warned those numbers may not provide the full picture.
A one-day count of Orange County’s homeless population earlier this year identified 1,979 people who were living in a temporary shelter situation or on the streets, a 3 percent increase since 2025.
But since 2022, the number of people counted in Central Florida without any form of shelter increased 133 percent, according to annual point-in-time count data. The vast majority of the region’s unsheltered population — 67 percent — were concentrated in Orange County at the time data was recorded. Forty-seven percent of the county’s homeless population are adults age 55 and older.
Orange County has invested millions of dollars into mobile shower and laundry services for the homeless, in addition to job placement programs, temporary housing in hotels, eviction protection for new or pregnant mothers and the expansion of homeless outreach services.
The city of Orlando in August 2025 launched a “dignity bus” program, which offers overnight shelter on two retrofitted Greyhound buses. As of our reporting in September, the program had helped 169 people find permanent housing since its inception. Orange County is pursuing a similar mobile bus shelter program through the nonprofit Matthew’s Hope Ministries.
A $26 million comprehensive 150-bed “housing navigation center” for homeless people — featuring a mental health clinic, medical clinic and case management — is also in the works at 1602 N. Goldenrod Road. But that project isn’t expected to be completed for another three to four years at best.
Shelter advocates warned the recent passage of Amendment 3 — a constitutional amendment to lower property taxes that will reduce the county’s property tax revenue by an estimated 165 million in 2027 — could also put the county in a worse place to dedicate funding to a building a new homeless shelter, even at the demolished work release center site.
“[Amendment 3] will, over the next few years, strangle the property tax revenue that cities and counties use to fund individual programs,” said Orlando resident Leonard Mobley. “Once Amendment 3 fully kicks in, it will be almost impossible for cities and counties to tackle big capital projects like the construction of a new low-barrier shelter.”
This isn’t lost on county leaders, who — like local government officials across the state — face a challenging road ahead in balancing the budget.
“Yes, Orange County is going to have to reduce some expenditures somewhere to make up for the loss of those revenues,” Demings admitted with the wariness of someone who will not be the one making those decisions. “But right now, we have to make decisions consistent with what is legally allowable today, with the context of how we’re going to manage all of these social needs and challenges that we have as a community.”
