The Real Safety Net in Pompano Beach Isn't City Hall — It's Next Door
Pompano Beach spends $0 of its own money on homelessness or financial hardship. Zero. Meanwhile the same budget season found tens of millions for a downtown parking garage.
So who's actually catching people? Not city hall. Your neighbors.
I know this one personally — in 2021 I was homeless, living in my car with my two dogs for six months, until a stranger I'd never met saw a Nextdoor post and let me stay in her she-shed for almost a year. Free. It's the reason I'm still here.
I spent months in Pompano's budget, Facebook groups, and Nextdoor threads and found the same pattern everywhere: people quietly asking for food, a bike for a kid's Christmas, help before an eviction — and neighbors answering within minutes. Faster than any hotline on that copy-pasted "resources" list ever will.
Feeding South Florida served 19,904 people in 2025 alone — already more than 2023 and 2024 combined. The fastest-growing group isn't who you'd think: working families, first-time visitors, people stuck in the benefits gap.
This isn't a feeling. It's math. And it's not the city's win — it's yours, if you're one of the people showing up.
New post is live (link in bio). Read the whole thing, then go check your own Facebook groups.
Link to full article >> https://realpompano.substack.com/p/forget-city-hall-my-neighbors-are