Helping the homeless make a living

A SURVEY on homelessness in Durban, commissioned by eThekwini Municipality and conducted by the prestigious Human Sciences Research Council, showed that for 72 per cent of homeless people, what they most want is to find work that will get them off the streets.

Raymond Perrier, director of the Denis Hurley Centre (DHC) said he was pleased that a number of recent initiatives had enabled some disadvantaged men and women to stay off the streets and earn a decent living – decent not only for the way in which they earn money but also the amount they can earn.

“Tsogo Sun, who were early supporters of the DHC, invited us to recommend candidates for seasonal work in their beachfront hotels. Stuart Talbot, our empowerment co-ordinator, led a group of homeless through an exercise of preparing for assessments and interviews. Even if not all were successful, it was still a useful programme for them. In the end, two young men who have been on our joint residential programme with iCare, and one who is completing the rehab programme at the Napier Centre 4 Healing, were selected and started working at the Garden Court South Beach,” he said.

Raymond said ABSA, supported by Catalyx, are enabling a number of young people who have never worked to have one year of paid employment in different organisations.

“Several homeless people have benefitted from this scheme including some who are now working at the DHC, and some working for our cleaning contractor Victoria Market Services. This scheme has also enabled us to fund a Social Work Auxiliary for a year,” said Raymond.

Meanwhile, the DHC’s famous Street Lit booksellers gained permission from the Municipality to sell along the beachfront over the holiday season. Look out for them in their smart uniforms courtesy of Jonsson Workwear.

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