Homeless thrown out of shelter over Christmas

Over the festive season, the News received a few phone calls about homeless people being thrown out of the West Rand’s only homeless shelter, the Tower of Life.

The News spoke to one of the men who were also evicted, John (real name withheld), who said the CEO of the shelter threw them out and expected them to write him a letter explaining why they should be allowed back in.

“A few of us were thrown out because we did not write him a letter. One of the homeless decided to sleep outside the shelter in the street and was [allegedly] robbed,” he said.

The News contacted the CEO of the shelter, Anthony Weilbach, who said he had indeed asked some of the people who seek shelter at Tower of Life to leave.

“Over the festive season there is a huge increase in the use of drugs and alcohol in the shelter. These activities are strictly forbidden,” he explained.

According to Anthony, the shelter was already fully occupied and there were certain people who were staying for longer than the allowed one month at a time.

“I asked these people to give me a written explanation for why they still need to stay at the shelter. Those who did not had to leave,” he said.

More than 10 people did give Anthony a written motivation, the rest were given a last night’s stay, he said. Anthony said that some of them later gave him a letter and he let them stay.

“Things started to get out of hand in the shelter. People were smoking and drinking in the bathrooms and some even tried to smuggle drugs in the shelter,” he added.

Anthony admits that if he had to get rid of every drunk or addict in the shelter there would be almost no one left to give shelter for.

John asked that the News withheld his name because he felt that his safety would be in question if it was published.

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