By Reggie Connell, Managing Editor
In Summary:
Scott Billue’s childhood experience with homelessness shapes his mission to provide immediate assistance alongside support that helps people change their circumstances. Matthew’s Hope registered approximately 462 people experiencing homelessness in Apopka over the past year, while Billue says the population seeking help increasingly includes older adults. He envisions a local center offering showers, laundry and connections to additional services, supported by city participation, donors and community partnerships.
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When Scott Billue returns to Clearwater, he sometimes drives past an aged two-story hotel his family once called home.
“It’s just one of those old Florida hotels, kind of a U-shaped thing,” he said. “And it doesn’t look much different than when I was a kid. But that was home. When I go to Clearwater, I always pass the hotel my family lived in, because I just want to remind myself where I came from,” he said.
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For Billue, the building brings back memories of his mother cooking grilled cheese sandwiches on a hot plate in their hotel room.
“My steady diet was pretty much grilled cheese sandwiches with the government cheese. We ate a lot of that. Mom was able to make that on a hot plate there in the hotel room.”
He remembers many well-intentioned people offering necessities, but one key element was always absent from their assistance.
“They were giving her clothes, they gave her food, maybe some hygiene stuff, but I don’t ever remember someone saying, ‘Susan, let’s talk about your situation … and how we’ll be able to help you get out of it.’ I don’t ever remember hearing that.”
That missing conversation still shapes his work.
As CEO and founder of Matthew’s Hope Ministries, Billue wants people to get immediate help, followed by the attention and support they need to change their circumstances. In Apopka, where his organization already works four times a week, he sees an opportunity to bring more of that help closer to the people who need it.
“I gather information. I take care of people,” Billue said in an interview with The Apopka Voice.
At 64, Billue is candid about the exhaustion that comes with the work. Demand is growing, expenses are climbing, and the people arriving for help increasingly include older adults with health problems and few options. Still, he is discussing a larger Apopka presence, including a possible service center and access to a sleeper bus awaiting delivery.
“The truth is, I’m working harder now and putting in longer hours now than I was 10 years ago,” he said.
For him, the question is how to turn those discussions into something that improves lives.
Already part of Apopka
Matthew’s Hope operates from Winter Garden and also has a location in Brevard County. Its connection to Apopka, however, is already substantial.
Billue said mobile teams visit Apopka twice a week, while transportation is provided on two other days to bring people to Winter Garden for services. He estimated that the ministry registered 462 people experiencing homelessness in Apopka over the past 12 months. That figure reflects people registered with Matthew’s Hope during that period, not everyone currently experiencing homelessness in the city.
The ministry’s services extend beyond meals. Billue described showers, laundry, haircuts, medical care, mental health counseling, and a program designed to help participants move toward housing and independence.
“We’ve had people who have come through Apopka, who have gone through our program, who are now housed and living an independent life,” he said.
Across its northwest Orange County service area, Billue reported 8,643 showers, 2,156 loads of laundry, 4,390 medical clinic visits and 444 mental health counseling sessions during the past 12 months.
Each service addresses a practical barrier. Clean clothes and a haircut can help someone prepare for work. Medical attention can address a condition that makes daily life difficult. Counseling can help a person begin dealing with problems that food alone cannot resolve.
“Where can people get mental health care? Where can people get medical attention?” Billue asked. “Where can they get a regular shower? Where can they have their laundry done?”
The demand is also putting pressure on the ministry’s facilities. Billue said the ministry acquired its Winter Garden location with a much smaller daily workload in mind.
“We just bought that building, seven, eight years ago now, for about 35 visits a day, and I’m averaging 135 visits a day,” he said.
A changing population
Billue said the population he encounters in Apopka is getting older. He sees veterans, retirees, and renters whose incomes no longer cover housing costs. Some have never experienced homelessness before and are suddenly trying to navigate it while managing illness or the loss of a spouse.
“And some of it is you have a lot of renters in Apopka that are older that don’t own their homes, and literally have been priced out of their units,” he said.
“They can’t afford it anymore. And people say, ‘So they chose to sleep on the street?’ No, the choice was made for them.”
He said older adults of baby boomer age now account for about 35% of first-time homelessness among the people his organization is seeing. That observation applies to the ministry’s population, rather than an independently established citywide statistic.
His own mother’s experience after her husband died helped illustrate how quickly a household can become financially vulnerable. Income can fall sharply while housing and utility bills remain largely unchanged.
Matthew’s Hope’s Moving Forward program aims to help participants become independent and self-sufficient. Billue said that can involve education, resolving old debt, addressing legal problems, or acquiring other tools needed to move ahead.
“We discover what tools they have in their toolbox and see what tools are missing, and make sure they get them,” he said.
But older adults raise a different question.
“What’s the end game for people who are in their 60s, 70s, and 80s?” he asked.
For that population, he said, the ministry is developing an approach called Moving Forward Silver. The challenge is determining what support people need when returning to work or following a conventional path to independence may be unrealistic.
What a local center could provide
Billue’s vision for Apopka begins with a smaller service center, which he described as a possible “substation.” The center could offer basic services locally while residents continued to travel to Winter Garden for medical care, mental health services, and other assistance.
He suggested approximately 5,000 to 6,000 square feet could be a reasonable starting point. Showers and laundry would be priorities, with the possibility of a local counseling team as the operation developed.
To make it feasible, he would like the city to consider donating a building or offering a long-term lease at a nominal rate. A secure arrangement would help him ask donors to invest in renovations.
“But it would have to be long-term for me to be able to get donors to invest in the building,” he said. “Because it would take more than what Apopka could afford to do, I’m sure, or would be willing to do.”
Billue estimated that roughly $2 million could renovate a suitable building and start the operation. That is an early estimate, rather than a funded project or a cost tied to a selected property. Ongoing expenses would depend on the services offered and the terms of a property arrangement.
“Yeah. I think $2 million could get it rolling, and I do think that I believe that I have some funders that would put in some money as they did here in Brevard under the right circumstances,” he said.
He also wants the city to participate in whatever partnership emerges.
“When you got buy-in from the city, whatever that means, you have a better chance for success,” he said.
Screenshot
A bus, and a place to park it
The sleeper bus could offer another option for Apopka residents who need overnight shelter. Billue said delivery, initially expected near the beginning of October, now appears more likely toward the end of the month because of parts and construction delays.
Where it would operate remains unresolved. Billue said he was surprised that no church had yet stepped forward with a firm offer to host it.
He said Apopka residents could still benefit if the bus were stationed at the ministry’s newly leased property in Winter Garden and reached through shuttle transportation. Rising fuel expenses make that arrangement worth considering.
“Because fuel prices have killed me,” he said.
The bus is one potential piece of a greater effort. Billue wants overnight shelter connected to services that help people address what brought them there, with the same emphasis on improving circumstances that guides the ministry’s daytime work.
Making room for others
Billue said he has met with Apopka Mayor Nick Nesta, commissioners, and Apopka Police Chief Lovetta Quinn-Henry to discuss the ministry’s work and possible expansion. A recent homelessness town hall also brought organizations together to discuss the city’s needs.
He sees room for local groups in a larger operation, but longstanding disagreements also pose an obstacle.
“There’s been infighting in Apopka for a dozen years,” he said.
Billue said providing meals and clothing serves an immediate need, but he wants those efforts connected to services that help people move beyond homelessness. His measure of success is whether the work changes someone’s circumstances.
“Because my thing is, if we’re not having an effect on what we’re doing, then why are we doing it?” he asked.
He described an arrangement at the ministry’s Brevard location where another group continues serving Wednesday evening meals using Matthew’s Hope’s facilities and following its guidelines. A similar partnership could let Apopka organizations keep their work going while connecting guests with additional help.
“You still get to do what you want to do. I’m just going to take it to another level with everybody else,” he said.
Such an arrangement would require cooperation, funding, and a suitable location; it remains a possibility, not an agreement. Billue nevertheless believes Matthew’s Hope could help build it.
“But do I think that we could do what needs to be done? Yeah, I do. And I think we’re perfectly suited for it,” he said.
For Billue, that is the opportunity ahead: giving someone a meal, then having a place and a plan for the conversation that follows.
“What we can do is we can make an impact that will benefit both the homeless individual and the community as well,” he said.
Key Points:
- Matthew’s Hope serves Apopka through mobile outreach twice a week and transportation to Winter Garden on two additional days.
- Billue said the ministry registered approximately 462 people experiencing homelessness in Apopka over the past 12 months; that figure is not a citywide homeless count.
- A proposed Apopka service center could start at about 5,000 to 6,000 square feet, prioritizing showers, laundry, and connections to care.
- Billue’s preliminary estimate of roughly $2 million would cover building renovations and startup costs; no property or funding agreement has been secured.
- A sleeper bus and partnerships with local organizations could expand assistance while the ministry develops an approach to address older adults' needs.
