Over 4 000 people homeless in Tshwane, research report reveals

The project spanned the city’s seven regions, covering 38 sub-regions.

Of those counted, 41% said they were on the streets due to unemployment while 23% said they were there as a result of alcohol or substance abuse.

Fifteen percent of the people interviewed said they were there as a result of family trauma or the loss of a loved one.

The first of its kind research report, titled: ‘Everyone Counted, Counts’, was authored by the University of Pretoria’s Professor Stephan de Beer.

“We started to realise from lived experience that homelessness is not only in the centre of town anymore, but it's now all over the City. But we didn’t really have accurate information about what that is, and we also know that there’s a disconnect between available services; such as housing; and where new concentrations of homeless people are," De Beer said.

"So, we wanted to be more accurate without saying that these are the final figures – but more accurate in terms of understanding the trends and the concentration.”

The university worked together with the City of Tshwane and the Tshwane Homeless Forum, among other organisations – including global organisation Bloomberg Associates which has supported Street counts in cities such as Mexico City, New York, and Paris.

The research found that most homeless people in Tshwane are situated in the CBD (913), followed by Mabopane (383).

De Beer said of particular concern was the revelation that more people stay on the streets for protracted periods.

According to the report, 43% of those interviewees had been living on the streets for longer than four years, 11% for longer than 10 years, 36% had been homeless for the past three years, 19% were on the streets for less than six months, while 2% found themselves homeless for the first time.

“Global lessons tell us that the longer it takes for one to intervene, the chances of people becoming chronically homeless is [high]. They come on the street, be on the street for two or three years and stay clean and remain unemployed, but then because of reality and challenges may start to use substances or alcohol," De Beer said.

While De Beer admits there’s room to build and improve on this initial project, he said the collection and refinement of data is a critical part of what should inform government policy - and should eventually yield targeted, more appropriate, interventions to tackling homelessness.

“The main one is that more than 40% of people say they are homeless because they came to town to find jobs, so it's unemployment. That’s symptomatic of South Africa, but it also challenges us in terms of policies that say to go to a shelter but within 3-6 months get a job if not you must go out. There aren’t enough jobs for people and yet we design our programs in such a way. This should be a challenge to policymakers,” De Beer said.

In his conclusion,  the professor said taking into consideration that some areas like Pretoria north and De Villiers Hof were not counted - and accommodating a 15% undercount margin - the figure may be closer to over 5 800. He said the core team would further speak to the representatives in the different regions to refine the data and improve the methodology to get more accurate results.

Meanwhile, the Gauteng department of social development said it budgeted R87.5 million in the current financial to fund programs for the homeless. Tshwane accounts for almost 50% of the province’s 2010 shelters.

The province developed the Gauteng City Region Strategy on Homelessness due to the absence of a national policy. The strategy was approved in 2021 by the province’s committee.

The department has welcomed the report and said it is open to working together with the university, and organisations like Statistics South Africa, to improve resourcing and refine the research process.

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