Drugs and other substance use disorders are the leading cause of persons living on the streets in the greater Ward 81 Area.
With the goal of assisting persons living on the streets, a new team of volunteers, lead by ward councillor Ashley Potts, aims to assist persons get off the streets and into treatment.
That said, it will require a softer, more targeted approach.
“We have a low percentage of homelessness and a high percentage of abandonment or refusal of access to the home of people struggling with substance use disorders,” says Potts.
Potts says the approach is imperative.
“I recently met with six young people in the gardens. I jumped the fence and went to speak with them. My demeanour toward them is that I do not want to get rid of them, I am there to help them,” he says.
This approach allows for better and effective communication and comes from his years of working in the substance rehabilitation space.
“Every one of them has a house (by their own admission). They have homes, but they can’t go home because they have a drug problem. Families have become tired of their drug problem and we absolutely have to start looking at the root cause of it, because all we are doing is addressing the symptom,” he says.
In the greater City of Cape Town metro, homelessness as a result of substance abuse is common, as confirmed by Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis recently.
Families go through a gradual process of putting addicts out, says Potts, eventually leading them to move closer to areas such as shops and centres so they can hustle for their fix.
Heroin is one of the most commonly used drugs, and most complex to treat.
“The need to retain normality as a heroin user is that you have to have a fix in the morning. You can’t go through your day without having it, so it is not abnormal, but it is not understood by the general public. They see them just as addicts,” says Potts.
Potts says families need to understand that users are willing to go to any lengths to get their next fix, even going as far as raping their own mothers.
“You must understand that this is not your brother, sister, daughter, dad or son. It is not your loved one, it is the substance you are speaking to. It is not your flesh and blood anymore,” he says.
“They are dependent on a substance of choice, because of the severity of use of this substance. They can’t just be expected to stop. Their bodies will collapse. They don’t have a different recourse because there is no shelter that will take them in with their dependents and still fix their drug problem. There is a shelter, but there is no understanding of how the process works.”
The realisation of this and wanting to assist these residents in his ward, gave rise to the idea of establishing a Street People team.
“The Ward 81 Homeless People’s Unit is based on the reality that there are people living on the street. “It is not that they are homeless. When I look at the feeding programmes, the amount of people coming out of all areas there are lines of 200 people plus, dependent on social relief. It is a challenge,” he says.
There are already around 12 residents interested in joining the group, with a few already trained.
“This will be a team of volunteers living in the community that has an understanding of substance use disorders, but also has a passion for people living on the street.”
Specifically on the topic of persons on the street as a result of drugs, Potts says people don’t understand how to help them.
“I know because I have worked in the sector for many years as a drug treatment specialist,” he says.
“This unit will help people understand how to engage with persons living on the street.”
All councillors in Subcouncil 17 have been informed of the initiative and Ward 81 will be used as a case study to hopefully implement this further in the associated wards.
Potts says while the City of Cape Town has a dedicated unit, the ward unit can and will be active in the area daily – which is what is needed at this time, he says.
Experts have been brought in to engage stakeholders on how best to spend and distribute funding allocated to the project.
Potts says families need to first force the process of rehabilitation, before they can reconcile or engage with their loved ones as the person again.
While the exact number of persons living on the street is largely unknown, pending the result of the recent census, the City engaged with 2 700 persons in March alone.
Ahead of winter, the City is also bolstering the services of several shelters. No shelter exists in the Mitchell’s Plain area and residents are referred to shelters outside the area.
In a recent statement, Hill-Lewis said the City would assist local shelters in creating 294 temporary bed spaces at four shelters in the metro.
“Besides our support for NPOs, the City will spend R230m over three years to expand and operate our own Safe Space transitional shelters. These facilities currently offer around 700 beds in the CBD and Bellville, along with a range of social interventions to reintegrate people into society. Our expansion plans include the proposed 300-bed safe space in Green Point,” says Hill-Lewis in the statement.
The City will also provide non-perishable foodstuff, cleaning materials, hygiene packs, mattresses, linen and blankets to these shelters, along with 184 Expanded Public Works Programme workers.
Another engagement with residents interested in joining the unit will be held next week.
