The City of Ekurhuleni (CoE) is in the process of ratifying policies which could ultimately assist vagrants and those living on the streets.
This information was shared with the NEWS in response to a request for comment sent after a meeting was held by community stakeholders to find a solution to concerns about Edenvale’s homeless.
Held on March 5, the meeting saw representatives from various NGOs, EMPD, SAPS and ward councillors in attendance.
CoE spokesperson Themba Gadebe said there has been an increase in the number of people who work and live on the streets of Ekurhuleni.
During an exploratory study conducted by the CoE between 2014 and 2016, 300 vagrants were identified to be living in Kempton Park and Edenvale alone.
Gadebe said until the policy is ratified, law enforcement agencies, municipalities and the community need to work together.
He said besides the community members living on the streets, there are over 200 informal settlements within the city’s boundaries.
“The challenges experienced by vagrants are complex and multi-faceted,” said Gadebe.
He said societal forces, such as high levels of poverty, unemployment, inequalities, illiteracy, economic migration, substances use and dependency, and disintegration, weakens the potential of individuals to grow, become active citizens and contribute to the economic growth.
“People detached from social comfort resort to temporary overnight street sleeping and, finally, informal settlement dwellers, homelessness and vagrancy,” said Gadebe.
He said the city’s approach to assisting these individuals is multi-pronged and includes:
• The eradication of poverty.
• The eradication of substance abuse.
• A R100-million support to education.
• Providing social services at the customer care centre to reduce the manifestation of social ills that lead to homelessness.
“When assisting an individual, the city works with NGOs to shelter homeless people in transitional homes where a screening process and assessment is conducted before admittance,” said Gadebe.
The shelters provide accommodation, skills development programmes, counselling services and referral for rehabilitation.
“Social workers are based in all customer care centres and the city’s clinics periodically host psychologists from the Department of Social Development to take referrals from social workers,” said Gadebe.
