Plan mooted to reintegrate Bay homeless into society

The Nelson Mandela Bay municipality hopes to reduce the number of vagrants occupying abandoned derelict buildings in the metro by linking them up with shelters and possibly even long-lost family members.

The plan by the city’s safety and security department will also help the police nab wanted criminals, it hopes.

Presenting the short-term strategy to the safety and security portfolio committee on Monday, executive director advocate Keith Meyer said the strategy of simply removing vagrants was not working.

The move was prompted by the city having received 42 complaints about homeless people in the Bay in June.

Meyer said homelessness in the city had been highlighted during the municipality’s crackdown on problem buildings, when it removed vagrants from at least 10 buildings.

“The issue of vagrants in Nelson Mandela Bay is a problem that is not unique only to us, this is a problem that we have in the entire country, this is a socioeconomic problem.

“We also like to acknowledge that being poor is not a crime, but moving the people from one place to another is also not going to solve the problem,” Meyer said.

The strategy is set to include the metro police, the Mandela Bay Development Agency, the metro’s legal services department, the Eastern Cape department of social development, home affairs and the police.

Meyer said the plan was to profile vagrants and homeless people before integrating them into society and families.

This will be followed later by assisting them with applying for ID books to make them eligible for social grants.

“We will be profiling all of the vagrants and we will be focusing on social reintegration.”