Cape Town - The Cape Town Central City Improvement District (CCID) has come on board supporting the efforts made by the City to help homeless individuals get off the street by offering transitional shelters.
This comes after the City announced that it was granted the right to evict tent dwellers by the Western Cape High Court on February 20.
The court order enabled the City to move people from municipal-owned public sites, road reserves and intersections in the CBD, which are, according to the City, impacting the safety of pedestrians, traffic and the occupants.
According to CCID CEO Tasso Evangelinos, the situation has become difficult and the council has worked to find solutions for the homelessness in the CBD and greater Cape Town.
“There are people who have consistently refused help in the form of transitional accommodation and social support, leaving the City no choice but to seek legal recourse to rectify matters. These unlawful occupations have become untenable and are having a negative impact on businesses in town as residents, entrepreneurs and landlords grapple with surviving the post-Covid economy.
“The occupations have also had serious repercussions on sectors that drive the CBD economy, including the hospitality, eventing, and tourism sectors. They have also posed challenges to organisations such as ours as we strive to keep the CBD a safe, clean and welcoming space to live, work and do business,” Evangelinos said.
Following the eviction notice, some “Tent City” dwellers said they wished the City had alternative options for them besides going to the shelter. They wanted the mayor to help by providing jobs to uplift them instead.
In a previous report on the eviction, mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis said: “We have responded to the national and global challenge of homelessness by expanding our care interventions to help people get off the streets, with R77 million allocated to a safe space and programming this financial year.”
Evangelinos said: “The CCID runs social development programmes and routinely engages with the homeless. Offers of assistance include programmes to help the homeless move off the street and reintegrate into society, receive treatment for substance abuse, reunite with their families and gain access to employment opportunities.”