- April 24, 2024
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Kim Ulino once worked the front desk and housekeeping at the Star Motel in Kissimmee.
That was before the power and water were shut off multiple times — in August, it was the final time.
In its heyday, the now-decrepit motel along U.S. 192 was one of many that drew tourists to the area to see “the most magical place on Earth.” More recently, it is one of many that has crumbled under the weight of an overwhelming shortage of affordable housing.
Many of the motels along U.S. 192 have morphed from budget-conscious “resorts” into last resorts for the low-income community. Their glory days are long gone.
Left in the wake of years of their collapse are hundreds of families just trying to survive. People are considered homeless when they lack a fixed, regular and adequate residence — and, generally, power and running water.
It’s a longstanding problem with deep roots — and one that recently captured Windermere resident Shannon Gunn’s attention.
And it’s what led her to Ulino.
Gunn and her husband were out for dinner in the Kissimmee area just a couple of months ago, when they decided to drive by the Star Motel — a property for which their lawn-care business once cut grass.
They were mortified by what they saw: piles of trash, insect infestations, a neglected pool and an overgrown courtyard.
“I called everybody that would listen to me and said, ‘Hey, what’s going on?’” Gunn said. “These people are literally living in 120 square feet. I complain about my kids making a mess … but that was chaotic.”
After being told there wasn’t much that could be done about the problem, Gunn saw her friend and fellow Windermere resident, Ivette Blanco, post about collecting backpacks and school supplies for the children in that area.
“I immediately called her and was like, ‘I’ve been wanting to help: Tell me what you need, and I will do whatever you tell me,’” Gunn said. “We started raising money, bought stuff, and that’s when I met Stacey Burgess. Stacey has been cooking and doing things for these families. I was like, ‘OK, how can I help, what can I do?’”
Burgess runs Give 2 Live, a nonprofit that works toward locating and rescuing sex-trafficked victims in Florida and helping at-risk children. Give 2 Live also helps by bringing 200 meals and more to the motel families. Other organizations that lend assistance include Kissimmee’s Community Hope Center, Embrace of Celebration and Kissimmee Poinciana Homeless Outreach.
Gunn met Ulino and her three youngest children through these connections.
“She’s just been really trying,” Gunn said of Ulino. “She’ll show me that she followed up, or if I ask something, she’s right there to answer a question.”
With help from the Gunns, a Facebook fundraiser to help the families in motels, and Kissimmee’s Community Hope Center, Ulino and her children were moved from the Star Motel — where they had been living for the past year — to the Magic Castle Inn and Suites about a month ago.
Ulino doesn’t hesitate when asked to describe the Star Motel.
Horrible.
“Once the owner stopped paying everything, that’s when everything went downhill,” Ulino said. “She totally fired the whole staff. There was nobody running the hotel. Then some lady ... came in and she said that she was going to be the new property manager. She was feeding everybody crap that wasn’t true. Then, she basically let gangs and drug dealers take over the hotel. Nobody was paying rent. … That’s why they first fell behind on the bills.
“My kids — I wouldn’t let them go outside half the time, because there would be gunshots being let off just for fun, but then you wouldn’t know if they were just for fun or if somebody was actually getting shot,” she said.
With the Star Motel going downhill and bills not being paid, the electricity and water were cut off multiple times. Residents still were expected to pay their rent despite the state of the Star.
“I was there running on a generator for about three weeks,” Ulino said. “Then when Shannon moved me out of there.”
Ulino first moved to Florida eight years ago with her fiancé — the father of her two youngest children — who died six years ago from Stage 4 cancer. After he died, she had a falling out with his mother, who she said tried to take her children away from her.
“… I just want to live comfortably, have everything that I need for my kids and give my kids the stability that they need in their lives. Because honestly, right now, I don’t feel that they have that stability.” — Kim Ulino
For a while, Ulino lived in a mobile home in Siesta Lago before being forced to leave by the owner. Then, she got a place in Clermont. The landlord took her rent payments every month, but he ended up giving up the deed to the house a year later, she said. The homeowners association gave her family 15 days to leave.
After that, the Star Motel was home for the Ulino family until a month ago.
“Once you get in the hotel life, it’s really, really hard to get out,” Ulino said.
Now at the Magic Castle, Ulino’s and her children’s lives are slowly improving. The kids are back in school, and Gunn helped her get a job that allows her to work from her hotel room.
But they still have a long way to go. Ulino has set up a GoFundMe to garner assistance in getting life back on track and providing stability for her children.
Accepting help is for the fiercely independent Ulino, but she knows it’s necessary under these circumstances.
“I just want my kids to be happy,” she said. “I want to be able to be in a house that I’m comfortable in. I’m not asking to be rich or anything like that. I just want to live comfortably, have everything that I need for my kids and give my kids the stability that they need in their lives. Because honestly, right now, I don’t feel that they have that stability. … Honestly, I just want to get out of the hotel. I don’t want to be in a hotel anymore. I don’t care if it’s a two-bedroom house or two-bedroom apartment. I just can’t do this anymore.”
Helping families such as Ulino’s fuels Gunn’s search for permanent solutions. She especially has a soft spot for the children.
“I do it for the kids,” Gunn said. “I have noticed it’s multigenerational, multilayered, multifaceted. … In a certain way, they are in a survival mode. They are living a different life. There’s 12-year-olds that are raising their siblings, because their mom has to work.
“I have noticed that they do know everybody because they’ve been in and out of these hotels for years. They kind of watch out for each other. It’s a bond more than some of us can say.” — Shannon Gunn
Today, the Star Motel looks different than it did just a few weeks ago. The Community Hope Center was able to move quite a few families out of the Star and into better motels with running water and electricity. A good portion of the trash has been removed. But some echoes of despair still ricochet off the hallways.
“Being able to say, ‘Do you want to go to another hotel? Do you want to go where there’s water and food and electricity? Let me help you.’ To me, that’s like providing hope for them,” Gunn said. “I feel that is the most rewarding thing — restoring hope.
“It’s like a little community,” she said of the motel families. “I have noticed that they do know everybody because they’ve been in and out of these hotels for years. They kind of watch out for each other. It’s a bond more than some of us can say.”
