CoE comments on concerns about homeless

Although the City of Ekurhuleni is aware of homeless individuals living in Edenvale and other urban areas across the City, it is not aware of an increase in the influx of such individuals.

ALSO READ: Influx of homeless individuals a concern for ECID

This comes after Edenvale City Improvement District manager Linda McKenzie raised concerns about the increase of homeless individuals living in greater Edenvale (March 2 edition of the NEWS).

She said recyclers and homeless people were active in places such as municipal parks.

CoE Spokesperson Zweli Dlamini said it is a well-known fact that homeless people are migratory and they never stay in one area for a long period.

“They move around seeking places where they can find food, shelter or money,” said Dlamini.

Although the CoE described homeless individuals as migratory, Dlamini said the CoE has not yet conducted a proper study on the causes of homelessness in the region.

Dlamini said despite a proper study not yet being done there are multiple contributing factors to homelessness.

“Studies have identified poverty, particularly childhood poverty, as the most powerful predictor of all forms of homelessness,” said Dlamini.

“Certain groups are significantly more likely to become homeless than others, and factors such as ethnicity, education, adverse childhood experiences, gender and employment all play a sizeable role.”

He said early trauma and childhood abuse appear to be common among homeless people with more complex needs.

“However, homelessness is not an inevitable result of these drivers many people who experience them do not become homeless,” said Dlamini.

“Specific triggers can lead to people becoming vagrants, including eviction from a rented property, conflict with family, relationship breakdowns, domestic issues and leaving prison.”

Identifying the types of homelessness Dlamini said there is economic, situational, chronic, and near homelessness.

Economic homelessness refers to people who arrive in the City in search of sustainable livelihoods, then find themselves unemployed and eventually on the streets.

Dlamini said evidence shows that more vagrants now earn an income, but that lack of access to well-located, affordable housing and restrictive public transport costs make them choose vagrancy.

“Often their incomes are sent home to sustain their families and children in school.”

Situational homelessness refers to people whose homelessness results from acts of domestic violence, abuse or conflict within families.

Dlamini said this category includes refugees or asylum seekers, and people released from prison or psychiatric hospitals with no place to go.

Chronic homelessness refers to people who are on the streets as a result of chronic mental health or substance abuse problems.

“Access to employment is a problem and, as a result, so is access to sustainable housing options,” said Dlamini.

“Near homelessness refers to people who are in particularly precarious circumstances and at risk of becoming homeless any day.”

Dlamini said people in this category include those in correctional facilities and psychiatric hospitals, due for release or discharge, children from child-headed households, young women who are in sex for money relationships and other particularly vulnerable individuals.

McKenzie said she was informed, after speaking to some of the new homeless individuals, that they were from Kempton Park and Germiston.

“One the reasons they came to Edenvale was because of the town’s feeding schemes.”

However, Dlamini said the CoE could not confirm where the homeless individuals were originally from.

“The City has no tracking mechanism for homeless people,” explained Dlamini.

“At this stage, there is no certainty of whether they are homeless people who migrated from Germiston and Kempton Park as stated by McKenzie.”

When asked what steps the CoE has taken to address homelessness in Edenvale and the City, Dlamini said when cases of homelessness are reported they are handled by its Health and Social Development Department.

Dlamini said the department profiles the identified individuals before referring them to the provincial social development shelters

“In instances when the individual refuses, there is no legislation that binds the City to forcefully remove the individuals against their will from the street unless they commit a crime or transgress by-laws,” said Dlamini.

McKenzie also highlighted the activities of Edenvale’s informal recyclers.

When McKenzie spoke to the NEWS, she said it was evident that anything the recyclers did not want or need was discarded and ended up in Edenvale’s water system.

In response to this Dlamini said the City removes illegal recycling sites in line with its municipal by-laws.

“In some instances, illegal recyclers are linked with legal recycling programmes through the Environmental Resource and Waste Management Department.”

Also follow us on: