At a ceremony on Wednesday, Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis formally opened the city’s new Safe Space shelter in Durbanville.
The New Shelter’s Address
The public transportation hub is home to the recently constructed Durbanville shelter. Its goal is to assist more local homeless individuals in leaving the streets. There are forty beds at the shelter. According to capetownetc., there is a shelter in Bellville not far from this one that has 220 beds.
Various Services Provided
Numerous programs are available to assist homeless people under the City’s Safe Space project. In order to help people reintegrate into society and get back in touch with their family, it conducts social programs. Planning for personal growth and job prospects are also offered. There are additional resources for referrals to treatment for medical issues, substance misuse, and mental health issues.
People only stay at the Safe Space shelters momentarily because they are transitional shelters. The objective is to assist them in becoming self-sufficient and integrated into a network of support. approximately the course of three years, the City will invest approximately R220 million to operate and grow this initiative.
The Scope of the Initiative
“The wisest decision for one’s dignity, health, and well-being is to accept social aid in order to leave the streets. Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis stated, “No one has the right to claim a public space as solely their own while steadfastly rejecting all offers of social assistance and shelter.”
In the upcoming months, the City intends to open a new 300-bed Safe Space shelter in Green Point. With 510 shelter beds between the two shelters now in place in Culemborg in the east CBD, this will assist in alleviating some of their workload.
The Haven Night Shelter in the CBD now has 156 beds instead of just 96. The City’s contribution of R500 000 made this feasible.
According to Councillor Patricia van der Ross, the City provides long-term assistance to approximately 3,500 individuals annually by placing them in shelters or referring them to social agencies.
Use of Substances
The City provides a free drug misuse program based on the Matrix® approach, which is supported by research. The program is intense and has an 83% client success rate. The program uses a multi-component, structured approach to behavioral treatment. It focuses on substance use problems and includes self-help, family therapy, group therapy, and relapse prevention.
Apart from providing beds to homeless individuals, the Safe Space initiative also offers meals, ablution facilities, social worker access, social grant support, and employment assistance.
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