We all need a safe place to call home.
About Us
We work to reduce homelessness in Central Florida by connecting people to stable housing and the services they need to remain housed and rebuild their lives.
We do so by finding affordable housing and subsidizing the rent and utility payments for people who have experienced homelessness — and by matching them to case managers who help to navigate a variety of resources, from mental-health counseling to job training to disability benefits, aimed at increasing income and improving the opportunity to become self-sufficient. When funding allows, we also provide prevention and diversion assistance to keep people from becoming unhoused in the first place.
We are designated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development as the lead agency on homelessness for our region, which includes Orange, Osceola and Seminole counties and the cities of Orlando, Kissimmee and Sanford. That means we're responsible to applying for federal homelessness funding on behalf of dozens of fellow nonprofit organizations in the region and coordinating the work to ensure that taxpayer money is used widely.
In addition, since 2019, we have served as the staff for the Central Florida Commission on Homelessness — the coalition of government, business, nonprofit and faith leaders working together to set policy and establish priorities for responding to homelessness in Central Florida.
We fund programs that provide supportive housing, transitional housing, emergency housing for veterans, outreach work and ongoing case management for the men, women and children experiencing homelessness in our region.
As the lead agency, HSN does not operate a shelter itself. Rather, we work with local shelters and day-service sites to coordinate the region’s holistic response to homelessness. But we also manage a single coordinated entry system for all individuals seeking help in the region, track data through the Homeless Management Information System, and coordinate the response to dangerous weather (high heat, freezing cold, hurricanes and flooding) for our unsheltered population.
About the Data
The Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) is a regional database used to capture critical information needed to link people experiencing homelessness with appropriate services and measure the outcomes. (How many people apply for help? How long does it take them to become housed? How long do they remain housed? Do they increase their income? What happens to them when they leave the program? Etc.)
We provide database oversight, quality assurance, training for partner agencies using the system, and help-desk support — all while creating hundreds of reports each year for partner agencies, government, researchers, the media and the public on what the data shows.
Our History
Established in 1993 by a small group of community advocates, the Homeless Services Network was born from a growing need to bring together the various individual nonprofits working on homelessness — at first for the sole purpose of applying for federal grants to address the issue across Central Florida. At the time, homelessness was still mainly a problem for single men.
But things were beginning to change.
As the area's population grew, so too did the percentage of single-family households (nearly doubling over the next two decades) and the gap between prevailing wages and rising rents. Homeless shelters that once housed only men were faced with growing demand from women and children.
It was also becoming apparent that the shelter system alone was not a solution to homelessness — that many people merely cycled in and out of emergency shelters without ever gaining the earning power and stability needed to return to housing. Such supportive services as job training, education, financial literacy and health care took on increased emphasis, and, over time, the need to coordinate those additional resources efficiently led the Homeless Services Network to expand its role.
HSN was first led by Helaine Blum, co-founder of the Grand Avenue Economic Development Corp., an affordable housing program for hundreds of formerly homeless Central Floridians. Subsequently, Marilyn Gordon and Cathy Jackson led the organization as it began to grow and diversify services throughout the tri-county area.
As regional leaders made a renewed commitment to tackle chronic homelessness in Central Florida in 2015, they hired Martha Are as chief executive officer. Previously from North Carolina, Ms. Are brought expertise in the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Continuum of Care Program and a successful track record of implementing evidence-based strategies to combat homelessness.
We are committed to financial transparency. Our donors as well as taxpayers deserve to understand where our money comes from and how it is spent. Click here for a copy of our most recent IRS tax return (form 990).
