Edenvale stakeholders recently came together in the hopes of finding a solution to deal with the homeless living in the town.
The meeting held on March 5 saw representatives from various churches, ward councillors, business owners, SAPS and EMPD come together.
Ward 18 Clr Heather Hart said the approximate 300 homeless people living in Edenvale include recyclers, job seekers and people who have fallen on hard times.
“Because of the different categories of people living on the streets we need different solutions.”
She said in 2012 various stakeholders, including the municipality, came together and by 2014 had almost finalised a policy.
Also read: Policy to assist the homeless on the table
“The solution required a resolution of council to approve it and allow for properties to be put out to tender to suitable bidders to run shelters as provided for by the policy.”
In Edenvale, there are several NGOs assisting the homeless by teaching them skills, providing them food and creating an employment database.
These organisations include Khanyisa Trust, which runs a daily soup kitchen, the Baptist Church, which provides some food and skills development to those wanting to learn, and the Help Forum.
Despite the organisations’ willingness to assist the homeless, representatives raised concerns about homeless individuals damaging their property and becoming more aggressive.
“It was agreed that individual feeding schemes were doing more to keep people on the streets than assist in resolving the problems being experienced by the homeless and the communities that are being negatively affected,” said Hart.
Also read: Meaningful help for the homeless – at last
“An appeal was made that all these schemes except Khanyisa should cease operating and find other ways to assist the homeless via the Help Forum.”
Hart said all databases of homeless being developed by different organisations such as Khanyisa, Baptist Church and Grace Place would be consolidated.
The stakeholders agreed that the implementation of long-term plans would bring the use of both the Skatepark and Horwood’s Farm to an end.
“Interim strategies were agreed upon by law enforcement agencies and affected communities which would be implemented as soon as possible,” said Hart.
Also read: Helping the homeless and creating a better community
A request for comment was sent to the City of Ekurhuleni and the Gauteng Department of Social Development on March 14, requesting comment by March 15.
At the time of going to print no comment was received.
