Cape Town - There are, according to the release of a recent study, more than 7 000 homeless people in Cape Town, said the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Social Development and Early Childhood Development, Suzette Little on Thursday.
“There are approximately 7 383 homeless people,” she told a media briefing. “In order to reduce that number we must understand what we are dealing with, the root problems.
“It was so important for us to identify these things because when we go back next year, we are better able to compare.”
The findings of a study by Little’s directorate, “Street People Research 2014/15”, was released on Thursday. The study provided approximate figures for people living on the streets, in shelters, their reasons for being there and factors that would assist them in reintegrating into society.
Out of the 7 383 homeless people in the municipality, 4 862 were living on the streets while the rest were in or assumed to be living in shelters, based on their various capacities.
The study, led by the directorate’s researcher, Lynn Hendricks, found that out of 1 700 homeless interviewees, females only made up 20 percent of those living on the streets. Those on the streets were more likely to be male, between the ages of 25 and 45 years old, native to Cape Town, and to have been living on the streets for more than a year because of a variety of reasons such as losing their house, unemployment, or a lack of family support.
In order to survive, these homeless people were more likely to earn money as parking attendants, bywashing cars, or “skarrelling” [hustling].
Those living in shelters were more likely to be female, between the ages of the 26 and 35 years old, from outside of Cape Town, and had left home because of losing their house, getting hooked on drugs, or simply having nowhere else to go. These homeless people survived on grants, part-time jobs, and assisting at the night shelters. They were also less likely to have been on the streets for longer than six months.
On how they made money, Little expressed concern saying residents and the City needed to discuss payment for jobs done: “This is the issue we must start talking about. People are working and aren’t getting paid properly for it. We must start talking about this with residents.”
The study further categorised homeless people into seven categories: are street people, chronic street persons, day strollers, gangsters and ex-convicts, job seekers, non-South African foreign nationals, and street born.
Homeless for the longest period of time was the chronic street person who had been on the streets for five years or more. The research team also found that the gangsters and ex-convicts they spoke to preferred life in jail and chose the street over their own families because of the reportedly poor treatment they received at home.
Locations where the research team had found more than 50 homeless people were deemed “problem areas” and included Cape Town’s inner city, Foreshore, Bellville, Goodwood, Strand, Strandfontein, Parow, Wynberg, and Sea Point. However, the directorate conceded it had not surveyed all areas in the city.
“This is a count of the people we could find,” said Little,”We most certainly did not survey Table Mountain although we know of people there. Certain areas are just inaccessible.”
The study also found that homeless people were more likely to sleep on a pavement out in the open than at a religious institution.
The day of the average Cape Town homeless person consisted on waking up at around 5:30am to start packing up and hiding their belongings, walking to areas where they would spend their day trying to make money, and then returning to their sleeping spots at around 16:30pm.
Once the directorate identified a homeless person, it would bring in its reintegration unit who would attempt to assist the individual in returning to their families. Some chose not to go home while others, accepting the counselling provided by non-profit organisations and the City, were able to reunite with their families.
Little discussed two cases of previously homeless people the directorate had assisted. Both of these reintegrated people were working for the City in areas related to homelessness.
One, a woman, worked at the City’s call centre fielding calls about the homeless while the other, a man, was a fieldworker who went out and engaged with homeless people regarding their reintegration back into society.
“They are [both] doing well. They are doing very well,” Little said, pleased at the two people’s progress.
The study also asked homeless people to make suggestions on how residents and the City could better assist them to find their way off the streets. Interestingly, money was not one of the reasons given.
Some of these suggestions included constant follow ups from non-profit organisations and the City, and the provision of skills training programmes, building more shelters, and providing money management advice.
Little added that people concerned about the homeless should “assist the shelters”.
“Don’t just give homeless people a handout but rather assist them in becoming self-sustainable and helping them regain their dignity.”
Little called on Cape Town residents to deal with homeless people responsibly and work together with the City and non-profits in lessening the numbers of homeless people on the streets. She further added that any non-profit organisation wanting to assist the City in dealing with homelessness could get in contact with the directorate to apply for a grant in aid.
ANA