Cape Town - The City of Cape Town has announced the opening of another Safe Space to battle the scourge of homelessness in Cape Town. It has 300 beds and is in Green Point.
Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis will unveil the new space in Ebenezer Road, Green Point, on Monday.
In a recent statement, the City said the transitional shelter “will offer social interventions to help people off the streets sustainably, alongside warm beds, meals and ablution facilities”.
The facility brings the total beds at City-run Safe Spaces to 1 050 across five facilities in the CBD, Bellville, and Durbanville, with plans for further expansion elsewhere.
The City said they will spend R220 million over three years to operate and expand Safe Spaces as part of South Africa’s biggest local government investment in social development approaches to help people get off the streets.
The opening of the Safe Space follows a South African Weather Service (Saws) orange Level 5 warning of disruptive rainfall in Cape Town and surrounding municipalities today.
On June 18, the Western Cape Division of the High Court ordered the eviction of over 100 unhoused people occupying public spaces in seven sites around the Cape Town inner city, with the provision of alternative accommodation at one of the City of Cape Town’s shelters: Safe Space 1 in Culemborg.
The order pertains to the “tent cities” along Buitengracht Street, FW de Klerk Boulevard, Foregate Square, Taxi Rank and Foreshore, Helen Suzman Boulevard, Strand Street, Foreshore/ N1, Virginia Avenue and the Mill Street Bridge.
Hill-Lewis said the City welcomed the order, which would enable the restoration of public places for all to use in Cape Town’s CBD.
“The court has affirmed City Safe Spaces as dignified transitional shelter, and the offer of spaces at these facilities still stands for those who have not yet accepted.”
But homeless activist Carlos Mesquita slammed the City’s latest development and said the City’s expenditure on Safe Spaces could be better utilised with better outcomes.
“Their own financial statements prove that the safe spaces are a failure in addressing homelessness. These safe spaces are nothing but a PR exercise for the mayor, the DA and the City. The public is ignorant so to them this will look like a wonderful thing the City is doing. The millions they are wasting on these safe spaces could be better utilised with better outcomes,” Mesquita said.
Jane Meyer from the Mouille Point Ratepayers’ Association said they welcome the new shelter.
“We hope the homeless will take up the opportunity of moving to this shelter in order to receive a warm bed, regular meals, much needed social worker assistance, help with addictions and help with learning some skills so that ultimately they can be self-sufficient and lead a dignified life.”