Nearly 3500 individuals were placed in shelters or referred to an array of social services as the City’s Street People Programme Unit within the Social Development & Early Childhood Development Department (SD&ECD) conducted more than 51 000 engagements with persons living on the street in a 12-month period.
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The Street People Programme Unit’s engagements included walk-in clients, as well as daily outreaches across the metropole.
The unit facilitates access to social and health services, shelter placements, developmental opportunities as well as practical interventions like access to identity documents and social grants.
However, these offers are voluntary and no person can be forced to accept assistance.
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In the past 12 months, the unit helped place 2 246 persons in shelters, reintegrated 112 with their families or communities, and referred 1 124 individuals to various services, including rehabilitation and health services.
During this period, 882 persons were given short-term contractual job opportunities through the Expanded Public Works Programme.
‘Intervening to help people off the streets is a process. Not only do our staff have to establish trust with the clients, but rebuilding relationships, and addressing the reasons why they migrated to the streets in the first place do not happen overnight, said mayco member for Community Services and Health, Patricia Van der Ross.
‘Very often it takes months of engaging with an individual before they agree to assistance. The City’s interventions to help people off the streets are well documented, but we also need to shine a brighter light on the work of the men and women who go out day after day, trying to get people to accept help. It is no easy feat, and I want to thank them for their dedication and commitment,’
The City, along with its partners, also facilitates numerous developmental programmes for its Safe Space clients.
One such example was the opportunity afforded to a group of clients earlier this year to obtain their learner licences. More information is available here.
The City currently has three Safe Spaces, which are transitional shelter facilities – two in Culemborg in the CBD, and the Paint City Safe Space in Bellville. The three facilities have a combined capacity of 780 beds.
Plans are underway to develop additional safe spaces in Durbanville and Green Point.
Support is also provided to NGOs to help more people off the streets by adding 300 bed spaces via the Winter Readiness Programme, as well as Grant-in-Aid funding.
‘The City appreciates that homelessness is a very complex issue, and while not a municipal mandate, the City’s Street People policy guides a series of interventions to assist people to leave the streets for good. We have expanded the range of interventions and increased the budget over time, as the only metro dedicating a social development budget to this critical issue. The situation was exacerbated by the two-year pandemic, but we remain committed to helping those in need through social assistance programmes, Safe Spaces and ongoing assistance to the NGO sector,’ added Councillor Van der Ross.
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Picture: Chris John / Pexels