AROUND 200 people from all spheres of society attended a vibrant series of brain-storming sessions at the Durban ICC recently to find ways to help the homeless in the city.
This public workshop was organised by the eThekwini Multi-Sectoral Task Team to tackle homelessness. The Task Team was convened by Deputy Mayor, Councillor Fawzia Peer, and is chaired by director of the Denis Hurley Centre, Raymond Perrier. The core team includes people from NGOs, faith-based organisations, business, ordinary citizens and homeless people themselves, as well as senior municipal officials.
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A broad range of stakeholders responded to the invitation to the workshop with twice as many people attending as expected. A number of city councillors and 40 homeless people also attended and engaged in discussions and provided first-hand knowledge of the situation on the streets.
The focus of the half-day was for the small groups to generate ideas in six key areas: shelters, substance abuse, finance, reintegration, law enforcement and targeted services.
Some of the strongly expressed desires from the groups included regulations for shelters, a wider range of solutions to help drug-users, an end to police harassment, an exemption to allow people to sell books on the streets and a specific municipal budget line for financing initiatives.
“The workshop is only the start but it shows how many people care about this issue and how much can be achieved when different stakeholders work together,” said Perrier.
