City’s move to help the homeless

ETHEKWINI Municipality has moved a step further to tackle homelessness in the city by identifying a building that will provide accommodation for women and children.

Speaking at a meeting of the city’s security and emergency services committee, chairperson and deputy mayor Fawzia Peer said the city hoped to transform Strollers building in Mansel Road, Greyville, into a shelter.

Peer said it was proposing the building be handed over to the Safer Cities unit as an emergency shelter. The city has come under fire for failing to effectively deal with homeless people.

Peer said Safer Cities did not have the funds to purchase a building to house the homeless.

“Among the homeless, we have females who are suffering. They go to shelters and are being abused. It is incumbent on us, as a municipality, to lead the way and do something. It has taken us a while to look at buildings and Strollers building has been identified,” she said. Peer said an oversight visit would be conducted at the building soon. It is owned by the Department of Human Settlements.

Chairperson of the eThekwini task team on homelessness Raymond Perrier said it had taken the committee six months to find a building.

“We noted that two shelters, that mainly housed women and children, were going to close down. Strollers building had been empty for months. The city is far more concerned with processes than caring for people. Processes should be a means to an end and the end is helping people,” Perrier said.

He said the city also needed to look at targeted services, such as feeding schemes, reintegration, substance abuse, law enforcement and financing.

Perrier said the task team had made great strides in its efforts.

“We recognise that a number of city officials have been generous with their time, enthusiasm and expertise, but we feel that, overall, the level of co-operation and a sense of urgency from the majority of municipal members has not been sufficient, hence the lack of progress,” he said.