The City will disburse just over R3,6 million to three organisations working with street people.

The Social Development and Early Childhood Development Department secured the funding through the adjustments budget that served before full Council at the end of January 2020.

The City implements various social programmes such as creating temporary job opportunities, temporary shelter, and reintegrating people living on the street back into their communities. With the additional funding, the City aims to support organisations through a working partnership to increase the capacity and efficiency of the services to persons living on and off the street.

The organisations set to benefit from the Grant-In-Aid disbursement are:

•         The Haven
The City will make available R750 000 to assist with meal provision at the organisation’s nine shelters. It is hoped that this will in some way encourage persons to seek out the services at the shelters, and thus reduce the number of people living on the street, but also help address the concern around street people who do not stick to their chronic medication regimes because of a lack of access to regular meals.

•         Streetscapes
The City will make a contribution of R1,4 million to the organisation to help provide job opportunities to street people. Persons living on the streets often have limited skills and cannot break the cycle of unemployment and poverty. Streetscapes will offer developmental programmes and skills training to assist with the reintegration of the persons living on the street.

•         U-Turn
The R1,5 million contribution to the organisation will enable them to open a service centre in Mitchells Plain. The City’s most recent enumeration survey found Mitchells Plain to be one of the areas with the largest population of street people. There are no shelters in the area, and the establishment of a service centre aims to help persons living on the street through development programmes and possible reintegration. U-Turn offers developmental services including, but not limited to, substance abuse interventions, meals, showers and skills development.

The disbursement of funds will take place once the beneficiaries provide the relevant documentation required in terms of the City’s Grant-in-Aid policy.

‘We know that simply investing in short-term solutions to keep people off the streets will not make the meaningful impact that this administration is after. The City further recognises that partnerships with organisations that have solid track records is crucial to achieving our ultimate goal of successfully reintegrating as many street people as possible.

‘Our street people are among the most vulnerable groups in our city and as a caring administration, we would like to make a long-term investment in getting them off the streets, sober, employed and reintegrated with their families. We know that partnering with these organisations will make this possible for many of our street people,’ said the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Community Services and Health, Councillor Zahid Badroodien.

The City will also engage, among others, with tertiary academic institutions to explore innovative ways of reducing the number of people living on the street. In the coming months, the Social Development and Early Childhood Development Department will launch the 2020 enumeration study – which will not only look at the numbers of people living on the streets and where they are located, but more importantly, the reasons for them ending up on the street. It will also include looking at innovative solutions to address the situation. 
 

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