The relocation of the Safe Space at Paint City in Bellville should be done by 2026, if all goes according to plan.
Also read: City’s 300-bed Safe Space homeless shelter gets green light
Two sites, Boston and Oakdale, are currently presented for public comment. The Boston site is located on the corner of Smal and Rhos Street across the Bellville Post Office, and Oakdale is on the corner of De Lange and Kort Street, across the South African Revenue Service office.
The City-owned land parcel that is currently housing the Safe Space facility needs to be relocated due to road upgrades in the CBD. As per the City, this includes an extension of AJ West, Church and Reed Streets that will run through the site.
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However, residents voiced their disapproval of the project shortly after the City announced the plan last week. ‘This proposal flies directly in the face of the urban renewal process, which the City itself is trying to initiate in the Bellville CBD area,’ says Hardus Zevenster, chair of the Voortrekker Road Corridor Improvement District (VRCID) Board of Directors.
‘This makes no business sense at all and is seen as a knee-jerk reaction by officials, who now have to find a quick solution to the homeless problem. The VRCID will now fiercely lobby all businesses and property owners adjoining both these sites to comment on the proposal and oppose it with the contempt it deserves.’
Jean Beukman, the Boston City Improvement District’s manager, told News24 that the area in Boston is ‘filled to capacity’, and questions how the City plans to ‘fit another 300 people into the space’.
According to Yollanda Fritz, vice-chair of the Oakdale Neighbourhood Watch (NHW), the proposal isn’t well thought out. ‘We’re already sitting with a problem of sex workers that operate in our area and close to schools, and now they want to move this to our area as well. The crime statistics are going to shoot through the roof.’
To submit your comment on the matter, visit capetown.gov.za/City-Connect/Have-your-say/Issues-open-for-public-comment/relocation-of-the-paint-city-safe-space or hand it in at the sub-council 6 office in Voortrekker Road, Bellville.
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Also read:
Safe Space for homeless people in Green Point one step closer
Picture: City of Cape Town / Facebook
