PINE HILLS, Fla. — A new youth drop-in center opened its doors in Orange County’s Pine Hills neighborhood on Friday.

Its goal is to connect homeless, or unhoused, youth ages 16 to 24 with the resources they need to get back on their feet.

What You Need To Know

  • A ribbon-cutting marking the opening of a new drop-in center in Pine Hills will help get homeless youth off the street

  • The new center will accommodate homeless youth ages 16 to 24

  • The center was made possible through an $8.4 million grant provided to the Homeless Services Network by HUD

  • SALT Outreach workers will manage daily operations at the center

  • RELATED coverage: New drop-in center to serve unhoused youth and young adults

The project was made possible by an $8.4 million grant from the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD).

The grant, which was awarded to the Homeless Services Network, will fund a variety of services — including the one-stop shop in Pine Hills — for 2-1/2 years’ worth of work.

What makes this particular center unique is that it was inspired by the ideas of young people.

“They came up with the plan on what they want to see their dream for a drop-in center, and our team put everything together and worked with SALT Outreach, and here we are now,” said Homeless Services Network’s Youth Project Coordinator Valerie Perez.

The SALT Outreach organization, which provides mobile drop-in centers to the homeless, will oversee daily operations at the facility.

In 2024, the Homeless Services Network revealed that roughly 6,700 children and youth were experiencing homelessness or housing instability in Orange County alone.

Among the services the new center will provide include:

  • Case managers on site to help youth find housing
  • A day service center, with access to meals, showers, laundry services and even mental health counseling
  • A designated area with computers for youth to apply for jobs

SALT Outreach Executive Director Eric Camarillo said he believes this new space will be beneficial for the community.

“A lot of the time they're outside, they’re in fight-or-flight mode," Camarillo said. "They need a place to get out of the elements.”

He also emphasized how important it is for the homeless youth to have their own allocated space because their needs differ from the adult homeless population.

“Then navigate them through what’s often a fragmented homeless services system," Camarillo said. "Everyone has kind of all these resources. We're helping to teach them how to tap into these resources.” 

He understands firsthand what it's like because he was homeless when he was 20 years old.

According to SALT’s website, there is a direct correlation between the frequency of visits to a SALT drop-in center and the percentage of unhoused people being moved into housing.

Homeless advocacy experts said youth homelessness can be a result of many factors, from family conflict to youth exiting or transitioning out of foster care or the child welfare system.