Street dwellers in Ward 5 may soon have a safe place to not only spend the night but be completely taken off the streets.
This is due to an initiative by Ward Councillor, Terri Stander, to establish a homeless shelter in the ward, which will focus specifically on rehabilitating the homeless and reintroducing them back into society in order to become contributing members of the economy.
Stander has already identified a building in Russell Road, the Aberdeen’s building, that belongs to the Mandela Bay Development Agency (MBDA).
A pitch has already been made to the MBDA to use the building for this purpose and Stander is currently awaiting the outcome.
“I’ve been working on this a long time and recently also met with DA MPL, Kobus Botha, and Angelique Fraser to develop policy, and to try and source funding from the provincial departments of Social Development and Health for the shelter,” Stander explained.
“There have been problems where residents were complaining about the ‘vagrants.’ To me that is a very negative word.
“I have a bleeding heart and I’m a solutions-driven person who likes to solve and prevent things.
“I usually speak to the homeless and ask them if they’re dealing drugs in my ward.
“Most of them say they just use but don’t sell. I also ask them what they are doing on the streets and most of them say that it is because of family issues,” she said.
Stander believes that a book shouldn’t be judged by its cover because some of the homeless have brothers in gangs and are being forced into a gang too, so they flee. Some fear for their lives and others don’t get along with their parents. Everyone has a different story.
She added that there are accredited shelters in the metro but that these have restrictions and rules and sometimes street dwellers don’t want to be told what to do and they stay on the street.
“I realised that there needed to be a shelter where someone who is in an acute emergency state has somewhere to go, not just for the night, but a place that can rehabilitate and reintroduce them to society and take them off the street permanently.
“If it is run properly, getting people off the street would be amazing.
“I think one can then reasonably expect that there would be a reduction in crime since, unfortunately, some of them are criminals and according to studies, 90% of the homeless prefer to stay on the streets.”
Stander added that when it comes to providing for the homeless in Nelson Mandela Bay, this falls squarely on the shoulders on the metro alone. However, after approaching the metro, she was allegedly told that there was no budget for this.
“We will therefore need funding and I have approached some organisations because there is currently no provision made to solve the problem of homelessness in the metro.”
Also part of the ward’s provision for the shelter is the Green Lung Project, where residents have been coming together to clean illegal dumping sites and remove alien vegetation in Russell Road.
“We are getting our areas clear and thinking of having the homeless at the shelter becoming custodians of the project and getting people in the shelter and residents to start working together.
“Getting the ‘problem people’ to be a part of the solution could work. It all starts with the shelter.”
Stander added that the MBDA will be conducting its own independent processes and involving the opinions of various stakeholders before making a decision.
