One of the few facilities for the homeless in Pompano Beach is in danger of closing after losing its main funding source.
The St. Laurence Chapel Homeless Day Shelter gives 65 to 85 homeless people a day food, clothes and hygiene kits, and a place to sleep and receive mail, said Kathy Bass, board chairwoman for the shelter.
If St. Laurence closes, only one major facility will remain in the city, Broward Outreach Pompano Beach, though there are a few places that provide meals or rent assistance scattered around town, Bass said.
St. Laurence only has enough to money to keep operating through the end of the year, Bass said.
The shelter is important for the homeless population in Pompano Beach, said Ronald Brummitt, president of Miami Rescue Mission and the Broward Outreach Centers. St. Laurence serves those who might be using drugs or alcohol, who don’t want to give out their real names, or who otherwise don’t qualify for services at Broward Outreach and other shelters, he said.
“There’s always those people on the streets that for whatever reason, they just don’t want to come off the streets,” he said. “Services for them are very important, to provide that kind of continual care. They need to have something, they need to have some level of care. “
Broward County has a homeless population of 2,766, and some of that population is fluid between cities. Pompano Beach itself doesn’t count the number of homeless in the city.
St. Laurence is at 1968 Blount Road, which is “in the middle of nowhere,” Brummitt said, away from shopping centers or residential development. That’s ideal for this kind of facility, he said, because nobody is going to object to it. Broward Outreach is in the same area.
“We’d hope they can stay,” he said.
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