New homeless shelter opened in Cape Town suburb

Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis officially opened the city’s new Safe Space shelter in Durbanville at an opening ceremony on Wednesday.

New shelter’s location

The new Durbanville shelter is located at the public transport interchange. It aims to help more homeless people get off the streets in the area. The shelter has 40 beds. Not far from this shelter, is the one in Bellville that has 220 beds, according to capetownetc.

Various services offered

The City’s Safe Space initiative provides numerous services to help homeless people. It offers social programmes to reintegrate people into society and reunite them with their families. In addition, personal development planning and employment opportunities are available. Referrals to treatment of mental health, medical problems, and substance abuse are also available.

The Safe Space shelters are transitional shelters, meaning that people stay there temporarily. The aim is to help them stand on their own feet and become part of a support network. The City is spending more than R220 million over three years to run this initiative and expand on it.

The scope of the initiative

“Accepting social assistance to get off the streets is the best choice for dignity, health, and well-being. No person has the right to reserve a public space as exclusively theirs, while indefinitely refusing all offers of shelter and social assistance,” said Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis.

The City is planning on opening a new Safe Space shelter in Green Point in the coming months that will have 300 beds. This will help carry the load of the existing two shelters at Culemborg in the east CBD, which have 510 shelter beds between them.

The CBD’s Haven Night Shelter has expanded its beds from 96 to 156. This was possible because of a R500 000 contribution by the City.

Councillor Patricia van der Ross stated that the City assists around 3 500 people per year through shelter placements or referrals to social services in order to get homeless people off the streets on a long-term basis.

Substance use

The City offers a free substance abuse programme, which follows the evidence-based Matrix® model. It is an intensive programme with an 83% success rate for clients. The programme entails a structured, multi-component behavioural treatment approach. It includes relapse prevention, family therapy, group therapy, and self-help – all focusing on substance use disorders.

In addition to the shelters that offer beds to homeless people, the Safe Space initiative also provides ablution facilities, meals, access to a social worker, social grant assistance, and help in finding work.

To see a list of available shelters and their contact details, click here.