Families Priced Out of Housing Are Forced into Hotels and Unsafe Conditions as Schools Struggle with the Crisis
Student homelessness is rising rapidly in central Florida, and service providers are struggling to keep up.
According to the latest data from the Orange County Public School system, there were more than 8,800 homeless students during the last academic year. That total represents a more than 50% increase since 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic occurred.
For comparison, more than 98,000 students across Florida were homeless last year, according to federal data.
That sharp rise in student homelessness is impacting both families with children and school administrators who help homeless students connect with resources.
Kimberly Bravo, who has three school-aged children in the Orange County school system, told local news station Click Orlando that she and her children have been living in a hotel for more than a month after they lost their apartment. Most mornings, they call Bravo’s mother to see if she can loan them gas money to drive the kids to school.
Bravo pays $2,500 per month for a hotel room, which is more than the average rent in the Orlando market. However, Bravo said they can’t find an apartment within their budget after being evicted from their last home because her partner lost his job and their rent increased.
“I feel like in Florida, once you have an eviction on your name, like you’re considered a felon,” Bravo told the news outlet. “I feel sometimes like a felon sometimes, you know?”
Families Struggle as Housing Costs Soar
For school administrators, stories like Bravo’s are becoming more prevalent in central Florida.
“Overall, we’re seeing more students qualify for the program,” Christine Cleveland, a senior administrator for homeless and migrant education at the Orange County Public School system, told local news station Click Orlando.
“So it’s just that there’s a lack of affordable housing,” Cleveland continued. “Many of our families are paying for hotels. They might be paying for a shed in somebody’s house, but they don’t have running water, no bathroom, no kitchen. So they’re paying money to people and they have a job, the problem is they can’t go anywhere else because they can keep enough money to get a deposit, which oftentimes is two times the rent, and then also pay that rent.”
“And so it’s just this vicious cycle for them living a month on their paycheck,” Cleveland continued. “So one hardship, it could be anything, their car breaks down, a medical situation, a family member needs something specific in order to actually live. All of those things can put them out of maybe what we call our shared housing or hotel situation into that literal homelessness.”
Causes of Student Homelessness
The causes of student homelessness are multifaceted. Most students become homeless because their families can no longer afford their housing situation, like the Bravo family. The lack of affordable housing is the primary reason why families with children are one of the fastest-growing subpopulations of unhoused people nationwide, according to federal data.
There are also interpersonal reasons why students become homeless. For example, data from the LGBTQIA+ advocacy organization True Colors United shows that queer youths are 120% more likely than their cisgender peers to experience homelessness because of prejudice against their sexual orientation or gender identity.
Youths of color and young parents are also highly vulnerable to experiencing homelessness, according to Covenant House, a youth shelter organization headquartered in New York City. Covenant House estimates that Black or African American youths have an 83% higher chance of becoming homeless than white youths. Hispanic youths also have a 33% higher chance of losing their homes because of racism or prejudice.
Similarly, 44% of pregnant young women aged 18-25 experience homelessness, along with 18% of young men who report being a parent, according to Covenant House.
Schools and Services Are Overwhelmed
There are more than 4.2 million homeless students across America, according to the latest data, which represents a 39% increase over the last decade. Yet services and support for these students have dwindled as federal and state lawmakers slash their social services budgets.
For example, Florida slashed more than $1.93 billion from its housing programs in the 2025-2026 budget, representing a 23% decline from the previous year. The total funding includes $5.2 million for Continuums of Care, which are responsible for funding homeless services, a total that experts say is nowhere near enough to serve people in need.
It has also become more difficult to help homeless students as many choose to hide, according to local experts. This makes it more difficult to identify them in local Point in Time or McKinney-Vento surveys, which are used to determine federal funding for homeless services.
“We experienced more difficulty in locating people this year, and increased reluctance to engage with staff and volunteers who were participating in the count process,” Martha Are, the Homeless Services Network’s CEO, told local news station WFTV9. “People are hiding.”
We Know What Works—Now We Need to Keep It
The pandemic proved that we need to rethink housing in the U.S. It also proved that providing additional support and protections for vulnerable renters and households with students facing housing instability worked.
That’s why we need you to contact your officials and representatives. Tell them you support keeping many of the pandemic-related aid programs in place for future use. They have proven effective at keeping people housed, which is the first step to ending homelessness.