A new Safe Space homeless shelter has opened in Durbanville. The aim is to help more homeless people, off the street. Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis was on hand this week, to open the facility.

New Safe Space homeless shelter

The new Durbanville Safe Space, which is based at the Public Transport Interchange, will add a further 40 beds to the district. It supplements the existing 220-bed Safe Space in Bellville.

“No person has the right to reserve a public space as exclusively theirs, while indefinitely refusing all offers of shelter and social assistance,” said Hill-Lewis.

It’s being reported that the City is overall, spending over R220 million over the next 3 years to expand and operate its Safe Space transitional shelters.

Getting Durbanville homeless people off the street

During last year’s winter, the City enabled several NGOs to add 300 more temporary bed spaces to cope with additional shelter demand. This included the deployment of 184 EPWP workers to assist NPOs.

He added, “Accepting social assistance to get off the streets is the best choice for dignity, health, and well-being.”

 

Recently, the City also provided support to the CBD’s Haven Night Shelter, giving them a 63% bed boost. This expanded this facility from 96 to 156 beds via a R500 000 cost contribution.

Accepting social assistance

Hill-Lewis says the City Safe Spaces offers social programmes to assist people off the streets sustainably. It helps to reintegrate them into society and to reunite them with family.

READ MORE: City’s safe spaces create an environment for uplifting the homeless

At the same time, personal development planning and employment opportunities will be made available, alongside referrals for mental health, medical, and substance abuse treatment.

The Mayor elaborated, “This new Durbanville Safe Space will add to the City’s ability to offer caring solutions to help people off the streets sustainably and to keep public places open and available to all.”

 

He concluded that another new 300-bed Safe Space facility will open in Green Point in the coming months. This will complement the 2 Safe Spaces at Culemborg in the east CBD which currently offers 510 shelter beds.

What the City’s Safe Space model includes

Here’s a list of services that is being offered at these facilities.
· dignified shelter,
· comfort and ablutions,
· two meals per day,
· access to a social worker on-site,
· personal development planning,
· various social services including ID Book and social grant assistance,
· family reunification services
· Access to substance and alcohol abuse treatment,
· skills training,
· help to find a job, and
· Access to EPWP work placement

MORE ABOUT: The Culemborg Safe Space