Local data: fentanyl continues to drive overdoses as homelessness and housing shortages persist

Representatives at the TIP meeting described overlapping crises: rising overdose complexity and persistent housing shortages.

Terrell Melvin of the Brevard Prevention Coalition said EMS reports showed 584 overdoses and 27 fatalities in Brevard as of Aug. 18, 2025, compared with 1,100 overdoses and 35 deaths in August 2024. "Fentanyl remains the leading driver of overdoses," Melvin said, and he warned that polysubstance use — often meth combined with fentanyl — is increasingly common and harder to reverse. He described scaled naloxone distribution, jail-based addiction education, and plans for a needs assessment drawing on EMS and jail data.

Sarah Sloan of the Brevard Homeless Coalition said the county's next point-in-time count is scheduled for Jan. 22, 2026. Using last year’s counts, Sloan said 81% of unsheltered residents first lost housing in Brevard and that chronically homeless people make up 43% of the unsheltered total. Sloan reported a county unsheltered population in the "700-something" range and said emergency shelter buses will provide about 60 beds countywide as a near-term step, while stressing the long timeline for affordable housing development (2–3 years).

Speakers described program-level responses: expanded naloxone and overdose response training, jail-to-treatment handoffs and post-release referrals, addiction-education classes in the county jail, and local recovery organizations opening drop-in centers in Melbourne and Titusville. Public commenters and partners urged more data sharing with hospitals, ERs and schools to track emerging psychosis trends tied to THC- and THC-containing vapes, and requested county follow-up with treatment and hospital partners.

Next steps included collating EMS and jail data for future TIP meetings, conducting a local needs assessment for overdose trends, and preparing for the January point-in-time count and for scaling emergency shelter capacity.