Cape Town will aid homeless shelters to add 300 beds this winter

Cape Town Mayor Winter announced that the city will help NPO-run homeless shelters to add 300 beds to help more people off the streets this winter.

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The city will further support these shelters by deploying 184 EPWP workers to help lighten the winter workload over the next six months as part of the annual Winter Readiness campaign

The Winter Readiness Programme is a critical element of the City’s social support for vulnerable groups.

In total, the City’s Street People programme budget amounts to R94.75m for 2023/24, a 23% increase from 2022/23 as the only metro dedicating a social development budget to helping people off the streets.

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Following an application process for winter aid, the City is signing Memoranda of Agreement (MOAs) with four registered non-profit organisations – Ubuntu Circle of Courage, U-Turn, TASP and the Haven Night Shelter – who will collectively add 294 temporary bed spaces at their facilities in various parts of the metropole.

The city will further provide non-perishable foodstuff, cleaning materials, hygiene packs, mattresses, linen and blankets to the shelters.

PROPOSED 300-BED SAFE SPACE IN GREEN POINT IN CAPE TOWN

A total of 184 staff members will also be deployed through the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) to assist NPOs with general and administrative tasks.

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‘These 300 beds and 184 support staff will go a long way to supporting NPOs in their efforts to help more people off the streets this winter. Accepting social assistance to get off the streets is the best choice anyone can make for dignity, health, and well-being. Besides our support for NPOs, the City will spend R230 million over three years to expand and operate our own Safe Space transitional shelters. These facilities currently offer around 700 beds in the CBD and Bellville, along with a range of social interventions to reintegrate people into society. Our expansion plans include the proposed 300-bed safe space in Green Point, for which public comments are currently being reviewed,’ said Mayor Hill-Lewis.

THE WINTER READINESS PROGRAMME

‘Our winter readiness programme is but one of many interventions that the City has put in place to assist our vulnerable groups. We have very good relationships with the NGO sector, and we thank them for their tireless work and continued partnership. It is important to take a step back in order to see the bigger picture, and appreciate the hard work that happens on a daily basis. There is no easy, universal fix to what is a complex social challenge, and the City is doing all it can to make a meaningful difference to people’s lives by helping them off the streets,’ said Councillor Patricia van der Ross, Mayoral Committee Member for Community Services and Health.

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The Winter Readiness programme augments ongoing interventions by the City’s Street People Programme Unit, to help individuals off the street. The Unit’s services include facilitating access to social developmental services; relocation to shelters or reunification with family/reintegration into their community; and social outreach interventions.

In March 2023 alone, the unit had more than 2 700 engagements with persons living on the street, facilitating shelter placement for 206 individuals.

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This article was originally published by Garrin Lambley.