Tucked away on the Culemborg Bridge in Cape Town’s central business district is a homeless shelter that used to be a parking lot, as indicated by some perpendicular lines on the sidewalk, but since mid-July it has provided a rest area for up to 96 people.
Culemborg’s expansion site is the third such allocation to be established in Cape Town to ease tension in existing shelters, especially the bloodless winter months, and is just a few yards from Safe Space’s flagship facility, which opened in 2018.
“There is a need for spaces r,” said Zahid Badroodien, Mayco’s member for Cape Town City Health and Community Services.”Our spaces are not classic shelters. They are transitional comforts for others who have expressed a willingness to settle for help.»
Another transition facility has been established in Paint City in Bellville to space the street for other people in the hard lockdown. In general circumstances, the combined amenities can accommodate 700 other people, but with the established social distance, only 360 can be accommodated.plans to open a total of six metro services.
The refuge in Culemborg’s expansion is almost full capacity.
“We have about 90 customers,” said Jantjie Booysen, CEO of Ubuntu Circle of Courage, an NGO that acts as a service provider for the site.Prefabricated structures in assets serve as bedrooms and space.
Although Ubuntu is the existing service provider, a tender has been submitted for a new operator and the announcement closes on September 21.
Most visitors arrived from the famous Strandfontein transit shelter, which closed in May after complaints of health, safety and human rights violations.Approximately another 1,500 people were housed in giant tents in the Strandfontein sports camp in what some civil society activists described as concentration camp conditions.
Strandfontein’s ‘most problematic group’
This is a non-unusual word about consumers on the expansion site.”There were fights,” said Florentina Brandt, a resident of the shelter. But judging by the friendly nature of the majority, it’s almost hard to believe they were a group trap.
Some lay on the lawn while sunbathing while others played football in the makeshift yard.The hit song Jerusalema sounded through a pair of speakers to cheer up.
“It’s a massive strandfontein replacement,” said Brandt, who “traumatized” through his delight there.
Abedah Lawson, Ubuntu’s assignment manager, says the trauma is rampant among citizens and has been largely exacerbated through Strandfontein.”I think a lot of them were misleading because they weren’t treated well,” he said.
Marius Jacobs, another resident who came here from the famous camp, said disagreements over food and bedding became physical.
Ubuntu approached through the city to manage the expansion site, said Booysen, whose NGO is a service provider in Strandfontein.
“The organization has an existing relationship with residents, which has enabled an elegant transition to and its services.The city has followed its aid grant policy, which allows for a sponsorship grant, to fund this humanitarian aid program,” Badroodien said.
When asked how many others had been on the streets since the closure of Strandfontein in late May, Badroodien did not give the existing figures, but referred to the 2018 street census, which revealed that nearly another 4,000 people were on the street while 2084 were on the street.housed in shelters.
“Our researchers have more common counts that will better inform us of trends and other key signs in this regard.”
The city accused 178 homeless people of “throwing” others right outside the expansion site after the closure of Strandfontein.In a statement on May 22, the city refuted this claim, saying homeless people under the bridge had refused to stay in a smaller location.However, considerations have arisen about the spread of Covid-19 among homeless people since a woman tested positive in Strandfontein, but the city said women’s close contacts had been presented at a quarantine center..
What the safe haven has to offer
When Daily Maverick visited the shelter, pipes were being installed for running water.The shelter had no showers and used Jojo tanks and bottled water to drink.There were some laptops available.
“When they opened this place, there was no bathroom,” Jacobs said. “Without a toilet, we had no selection and we had to do our business outside.”
Each user had a bucket to bathe in. Although the shelter has electricity, no power outlets have been installed in the bedrooms, which Booysen says is a challenge to rate a mobile phone or access hot water.
“I bought an urn from the room,” Booysen said, noting that he had paid for some materials at the shelter out of pocket despite the city grant that only covers meals, staff salaries and cleaning.
Customer temperatures are taken every morning and night.Residents insisted that all newcomers to the shelter be taken to a nearby hospital for testing or testing.Booysen says they don’t have enough PPE.
Masks were used here and there at the property, but this did not apply strictly.Disinfectants could not be visibly had in the bedrooms.
The fenced shelter site has 24/7 security guards.Guests can leave, but will have to return before 9 pm before curfew.Some consumers help with the application of security protocols.Kevin Pillay is the resident field and security chief.He’s strict, but he’s worried and he was also at Strandfontein.IL now runs on Ubuntu.
“We don’t allow nonsense and look at everyone, ” he said.
Twice a month, Ubuntu sponsors toilet packages for visitors with pieces like coffee, sugar, soap and toothpaste, Booysen says.Guests get 3 foods a day. Some eat in the bedrooms as there is no dining room or dining domain available.Upon arrival, the city provides visitors with blankets, mattresses and toiletries.
All bedrooms, unless there is one, have bunk beds.Mattresses were used to furnish the single men’s bedroom, without a bed frame.Among residents, 3 monitors have been designated for each bedroom and perform a monitoring and affectivity function, they are paid for their duties.
“It’s just that Mr. Booysen and Abedah gave us power,” says Brandt, who works as an instructor.
Approximately 25 of the customers paint under the Expanded Public Works Program (EPWP), but without identification, many others request installation.Booysen begged the City to provide more investment so that undocumented clients can simply apply for Internal Affairs.
Trauma and addiction
“About 80% of our patients suffer from addiction,” Booysen says.Brandt admits she’s a former recovering drug addict.Jacobs fights alcoholism.
Detoxification systems will be obtained through a partnership with the Cape Town Drug Advisory Center, which provides access to an additional social employee in addition to that hired through Ubuntu.
“We’ve also partnered with Play Sport four Life to use the game as a way to satisfy our customers’ other desires,” Booysen said, desires such as HIV/AIDS awareness and hygiene practices.Other interventions come with entrepreneurship, work skills and strengthening family ties.
Eight consumers have met with their families, Booysen says.Its purpose is for more people to come home.Brandt, who has four children, says he only needs to come back once his “base is solid.”
“I’m not going to be the way it used to be.”
Jacobs, a transgender woman from east Cape Town, has become homeless when a circle of relatives disputed for cash forced her to flee to Cape Town.Fifteen years later, Jacobs faced difficult cases while living on the street.
“When I got to Cape Town, I became a sex worker,” Jacobs says.She recounts a sexual abuse incident in which she invited someone into someone’s space and whipped her in exchange for R300.
“It made me move slowly fighting me with a rain whip.
Jacobs continued to settle for abusive clients to earn income and the trauma led to his alcoholism.
When Strandfontein closed its doors, Jacobs came to live under the Culemborg Bridge in anticipation of the opening of the expansion site.Although not harassed for being transgender in Strandfontein, she verbally and physically assaulted her as she crouched under the bridge.
“It’s my nightmare, because they started saying, “There’s a moffie, ” how can you let this thing sleep with men here?
Foreign
Many street citizens live in the open air of the shelter. According to Booysen, some are concerned about gangsterism and drug trafficking, posing a challenge to clients’ recovery.
“We had disorders with alcoholism, drugs and we also discovered harmful weapons.”
Although the shelter is closed to those who do not paint or live there, leftover food and leftovers are given to those of “outside”.
Jacobs says many of his friends at Store 2 in Strandfontein were among those who lived outdoors in the shelter, which makes her angry.
“People stop at the door asking us for food and every time I see them, I think, “Ah, this is a girl who came from Strandfontein.”It’s very difficult.”
Examine how other homeless people are cared for
Booysen, who was a cash member for cape town before opening Ubuntu in 2014, says there are housing community tensions such as poverty, homelessness and gang activity that cause homelessness and attractions for host communities (such as CBD) that are offering opportunities to earn money.
He thinks more is to be done in home communities because in CBD, people and homeless organizations are suffering with “the symptoms.”
For Booysen, some of the demanding situations that make reunification difficult are chronic homelessness (other people who have lived on the streets for many years), dysfunctional families, and community rejection; for example, other criminals may find it difficult to reintegrate.
The City announced in early August that it would review its 2013 Street People Policy.The document has not been revised since its implementation, expected to be revised every two years. The policy is related to city regulations, one of which was criticized in 2019 for allowing other homeless people to be fined.
“We will adopt a series of dialogues with other people’s street sector in the coming months to tell the strategy,” Badroodien said.
In a statement, the city said a series of dialogues including Street People Forum and Shelter Forum organizations, network improvement neighborhoods, and street dwellers would be concluded until October 10, 2020 (World Homeless Day).
When asked what the review of other people’s street policy meant to her, Jacobs said she hoped the city would pay attention to homeless considerations.”Normally, we have nothing to say,” he says. Dm
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