The City of Cape Town has announced the opening of another Safe Space to combat homelessness in the city. It has 300 beds and is in Green Point.
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Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis will unveil the new space on Ebenezer Road, Green Point, on Monday.
In a recent statement, the City stated that the transitional shelter ‘will offer social interventions to help people off the streets sustainably, alongside warm beds, meals and lavatory facilities.’
The facility brings the total number of beds at City-run Safe Spaces to 1,050, spread across five facilities in the CBD, Bellville, and Durbanville, with plans for additional expansion elsewhere.
The City has announced that it will spend R220 million over three years to operate and expand Safe Spaces, as part of South Africa’s largest local government investment in social development approaches to help people get off the streets.
The Safe Space’s opening comes after the South African Weather Service (Saws) issued an orange Level 5 warning of disruptive rainfall for Cape Town and surrounding municipalities today.
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On 18 June, the Western Cape Division of the High Court ordered the eviction of over 100 unhoused people occupying public spaces in seven sites throughout Cape Town’s inner city, with alternative accommodation provided at one of the City of Cape Town’s shelters, Safe Space 1 in Culemborg.
The order pertains to the ‘tent cities’ along Buitengracht Street, FW de Klerk Boulevard, Foregate Square, Taxi Rank and Foreshore, Helen Suzman Boulevard, Strand Street, Foreshore/ N1, Virginia Avenue and the Mill Street Bridge.
Hill-Lewis said the City welcomed the order, which would enable the restoration of public places for all to use in Cape Town’s CBD.
‘The court has affirmed City Safe Spaces as dignified transitional shelter, and the offer of spaces at these facilities still stands for those who have not yet accepted.’
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Also read:
Cape Town mayor defends Safe Spaces amid homeless eviction deadline
Picture: City of Cape Town