The City today 10 October 2017 renewed its call to residents to refrain from giving handouts directly to street people.
CITY OF CAPE
TOWN, 10 OCTOBER
2017, MEDIA RELEASE
This, below, was the key
message during an event to mark World Homeless Day, hosted by the City of Cape
Town in partnership with Oasis ‘Reach for Your Dreams’.
The City today 10 October
2017 renewed its call to residents to refrain from giving handouts directly to
street people.
This was one of the issues
discussed at an event to mark World Homeless Day, attended by more than 100
street people.
The event was hosted by the
City’s Social Development and Early Childhood Development Department, in
conjunction with non-governmental organisation, Oasis ‘Reach for Your Dreams’.
Also in attendance were other NGOs, the Department of Home Affairs and the
South African Social Security Agency.
World Homeless Day is now in
its seventh year. It aims to highlight issues affecting homeless persons as
well as the role communities can play in responding to homelessness.
Why is is bad to hand money to street people?
‘We are constantly reminding
residents about the harm in giving money directly to street people. While they
may think they’re doing a good deed, in reality it only discourages street
people from accepting social services. Giving money perpetuates chronic
homelessness as well as various other social issues. The City has a number of
programmes to help street people, but we can reach far more people in a more
meaningful way if the public support the interventions that will assist with
reintegrating and helping street people rather than giving handouts that are
nothing more than a plaster on a wound requiring far greater care.
What Should You Do With Your Donations Rather?
‘Often the donations obtained
on the street will actively prevent reintegration. While members of the
public will complain about the structures erected and activities undertaken by
street people, they will often also continue to incentivise such behaviour through
donations directly to the street person while forgetting about the person who
leaves the street to return home or moves to a shelter. The City therefore
encourages people to donate directly to the NGOs working with street persons to
ensure that we support street people that attempt to rebuild their lives off
the street,’ said the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security;
and Social Services, Alderman JP Smith.
The City has a dedicated
Street People Unit that provides a range of services including:
· Relocation of street people
to various shelters in the city
· Reuniting street people with
their families/community of origin
· Assistance with access to
identity documents and social grants
· Access to substance abuse
rehabilitation programmes
· Developmental opportunities
· Short-term work opportunities
through the Expanded Public Works Programme
‘While the Street People Unit
is doing good work, it cannot operate in isolation and so we rely heavily on
other role players like the NGO sector, the City improvement districts and the
Western Cape Government to augment our interventions. Building transversal
relationships within the City but also with external partners is critical to
our Organisational Development and Transformation Plan, but also breaking the
mould in how we address issues of homelessness,’ said the City’s Mayoral
Committee Member for Area South, Councillor Eddie Andrews.
During the 2016/17 financial
year, the Street People Unit responded to nearly 15 000 complaints about
street people and successfully offered assistance to more than 2 600
individuals. The Reintegration Unit reunited 82 persons with their families
during this period.
What Happens to a Client That Accepts Help From The City?
Once a client has accepted
offers of social assistance, they are relocated to a shelter temporarily while
the reintegration officer establishes whether the client can be reunified with
their family and identifies additional needs of the client in respect of other
services like healthcare, substance abuse interventions or access to grants and
other social services.
‘We need to take the long
view on this and move away from the perception that law enforcement is the
be-all and end-all solution. The reality is that our Law Enforcement
Department’s powers are fairly limited and their interventions serve only to
displace the problem. The criminal justice system has weaknesses that make
law enforcement particularly ineffectual in responding to complaints about by-law
transgressions by street people. While we are engaging national government
to remedy these criminal justice system shortcomings, we also maintain that
social development interventions are more effective and more appropriate than
an enforcement approach to homelessness.
‘Social intervention, though
time consuming, is ultimately how we will reduce the number of people living on
our streets. But again, I remind residents that it’s futile to complain about
the presence of street people in your neighbourhood or public open spaces while
enabling the behaviour through handouts,’ added Alderman Smith.
Note to broadcasters: audio clips are available for download
