Social ills Intervention Plan

1. Social ills Intervention Plan 24 October 2016

2. CONTENTS OF THE PRESENTATION • Overview of Draft Social Development Strategy • Social Ills – eThekwini IDP • Social Ills and Mandates • Social Ills and Vulnerability • Homelessness in Durban • Defining Programmes & Study Recommendations • Best Practices • Resources & Collaborations

3. OVERVIEW OF SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY The SDS have six strategic pillars aligned to the City’s Vision “ By 2030, eThekwini will become the most caring and liveable city” • Social Cohesion – creating mutual unity amongst individuals and communities and allowing them to prosper by minimizing inequalities • Community Health – healthy society in general and their interrelatedness

4. SDS PILLARS cont’ • Socio-Economic Development – promoting sustainable access to social and economic development • Total Sustainable Human Settlements -improving social, economic and environmental quality of human settlements • Social Policing – taking control to the prosecution of offenses against social order • Social Development Infra-Structure – Building assets that accommodate social services

5. SOCIAL ILLS AS DEPICTED IN THE IDP Social ills are problems that exists when a condition is undesirable to some members of the community / society such as: • Teenage pregnancy • HIV and AIDS • Drugs and substance abuse • Poverty and unemployment • Crime and grime • Land invasion • Lack of social cohesion • Protests and riots

6. SOCIAL ILLS AND LOCAL GOVT MANDATES • City does not have an Integrated Social Development Framework/ Strategy nor a legislative mandate that particularly addresses social ills • Presently the responses to social ills are reactive and are addressed as and when need arises • The Prevention & Treatment for Drug and Substance Abuse Act allows the Municipality to establish Local Drug Action Committees

7. SOCIAL ILLS AND LOCAL GOVT MANDATES • The city has the Nuisances & Behaviour in Public Places By Laws to: • provide for measures for preventing, minimizing or managing public nuisances • prohibit certain activities or conduct in public places and • regulate behavior in public places

8. SOCIAL ILLS & PROVINCIAL/ NATIONAL MANDATES • Aged Persons Act, 2008 – deals with those who are over the aged of 60 years • Social Assistance Act 13, 2004– Social Security ( Old Age Pension, Foster Grants, Child Support Grant , War Veterans Pension, Disability Grant etc) • Children’s Amendment Act, 2008 – deals with children from 0-18 years • Domestic Violence Act – deals with gender based violence victims • Prevention & Treatment for Drug and Substance Abuse Act, 2008– highlights the role of all government departments to address drug and substance abuse including municipalities

9. SOCIAL ILLS AND VULNERABILBITY Social ills in the CBD Vulnerable Groups Beggars on the street Homeless persons Street children Mothers begging with children Undocumented Foreign Nationals Mentally challenged persons Disabled Commercial Sex Workers Job Seekers • Crime and grime • Drug and substance abuse • Loitering & Littering • Defecating public and private spaces • Overcrowded pavements • Property hijacking • Uncontrolled Occupation of open public spaces • Jaywalking • Homelessness

10. HOMELESSNESS IN DURBAN CBD

11. Defining and understanding homelessness In many cases homelessness has been viewed as a problem that encroaches on the rights of other citizens or businesses in the area. The solution has been merely relocating the homeless to other less visible areas. Little consideration is given to the rights of the homeless as citizens to occupy these spaces. 1 “…there are various categories of people who are homeless on the street for various reasons per person but I don’t know whether you can categorize it as homelessness because if a person is sleeping on the streets, it doesn’t mean that he is a homeless person. A street trader sleeps on the street at night to guard his goods, is not a homeless person, they got a home somewhere, everybody has a home somewhere, so nobody is homeless in that sense.” (Government representative) The way we understand homelessness and the subgroups that exist is important for the development of contextually relevant interventions to support these populations 1. Cross, Seager et al. (2010)

12. Street and Shelter-living persons -Roughly the same size Count Number of shelters included in count Number of shelters visited Interviewed

13. Demographic Breakdown Street-Living Shelter-living 88% Male 80% Male Gender Race 87% Black 62% Black Age Breakdown Region of origin

14. Primary reason for coming to the street Employment, Family related issues (disagreements/close family death) Street-Living Shelter-living “I do not have mother and father and I give up on life. Sometimes we take life for granted. I was staying with my step-mother and things where not too easy so I just gave up. She was mistreating me and I just felt that I am useless. So I just saw there is no hope. The only hope is the streets, so I went on the streets” (Street-living male)

15. Current living arrangements In the 7 nights preceding the census Street-Living Shelter-living Length of current stay on street/in shelter Age when first came to stay on street/shelter 1% of street & shelter living people are temporarily homeless i.e. spent at least 1 night at home in the week preceding the census

16. Movements to Home Street Shelter “Ay I moved to Durban because of the cases that were committed in the township you see? But I ended up being arrested for the things that I did not even know, if someone committed a crime in the community, then the blame would be shifted to me, I thought I will end being killed by the community, then I decided to leave. When I arrived in Durban, luckily, I got a place where I can car guard, right now I do not do wrong things, I look after cars now.” (Street-living Male)

17. Substance use “I mean you see its kind [of] like, you know when you are seeking for happiness and you know if I can have one or two sips then I can feel better, at least for that certain time. But to be honest we do not like to do it but for the sake of you want to feel better and forget about what is happening; you povertiy and stuff like that you know? That is why we are like, we are drowning our sorrows” (street-living participant)

18. What do the street & shelter living need to get off the street/out of a shelter (multiple selection allowed) Street Shelter 10% 72% 8% 10% 6% 4% 6% 2%

19. Access to servicesQuestion: Have you received any of the following support services? Shelter-living Street-Living “We only get police because they want to lock us up. But when you want an ambulance, a street man or a street lady can die, (.) because you have to state where are you, where are you calling the ambulance from, where that person, if you say Stanger street where about? Stanger Street, oh it’s a (skhotheni) it will take five hours for the ambulance to come because they treat us like di-dirt.” (Street-living male)

20. PROGRAMMES & STUDY RECOMMENDATIONS • Shelters: define the role of the municipality towards provision, support and regulation of shelters • Drop In Centre: Outreach Psycho social services, health services, screening, referral and advise desk, reintegration and reunification, storage facility and feeding scheme and other relevant programmes • Job Creation & Skills Development: finding alternative ‘informal” approaches

21. PROGRAMMES &STUDY RECOMMENDATIONS cont’ • Law enforcement: “non- arrest alternative” approach by decriminalizing homelessness • Public Awareness: to change attitude towards homelessness • Targeted Services: improved access to ablution facilities, showers, storage facilities for ID documents and belongings • Policy Development: Integrated Policy on Homelessness

22. INTERVENTIONS - SHELTERS • Section 9 of Social Housing Act no 16, 2008 outlines the functions of the municipalities as follows: • (1) Every municipality must, as part of the municipality's process of integrated development planning, take all reasonable and necessary steps within the framework of national and provincial housing legislation and policy to- • (a) ensure that- • (i) the inhabitants of its area of jurisdiction have access to adequate housing on a progressive basis; • (ii) conditions not conducive to the health and safety of the inhabitants of its area of jurisdiction are prevented or removed

23. PROGRESS ON INTERVENTIONS - SHELTERS Sakhithemba – Illovo • Support Depts: eThekwini Human Settlements, Treasury (SCM), KZN DoHS, KZN DSD • Sakhithemba Municipal facility (Transitional Shelter)identified at Illovo can house 100 but requires renovations (R9m) • KZN DoHS (Social Housing and CRU) committed to fund renovations through institutional subsidies in 2017/2018 • Report to Committee for EOI awaiting Council approval for Municipality to appoint an NGO to package the funding application as requested by KZN DoHS • Identification of Strollers as step down facility – two lower levels • Request for funding (apex/opex) – Mid Term Review • Database of commercially operated shelters

24. PROGRESS ON INTERVENTIONS- Drop In Centre • Identified site at MagaretMncadi to operate as Drop In Centre presently occupied by Security Management • Report to Committee awaiting Council Approval for site utilization and coordination of CBD feeding schemes • Appointment of Community Development/ Social Work Interns, process with EMA • Procurement of additional park homes and design layout – awaiting Mid Term Review for funding (capex/ opex) • Allocation of Soup Kitchen in Ward 22 • Support Depts: CPAS, KZN DSD, Architecture, EWS, Health • Existing structures: 3 park homes, 1 wendy hut, 1 ablution facility

25. PROGRESS ON INTERVENTIONS- Job Creation and Skills Development

26. PROGRESS ON INTERVENTIONS- Job Creation and Skills Development • A report to Committee requesting a certain allocation of EPWP opportunities to homeless people is awaiting Council Approval • The allocation of CWP opportunities to rehabilitated homeless persons has been proposed • Dennis Hurley Centre has developed a Green Car Wash Programme for homeless persons and intends to partner with City Fleet • 47 rehabilitated drug users from Qalakabusha have started their own business through SKWE ONE enterprise, 2 are in permanent employment

27. PROGRESS ON INTERVENTIONS-Law Enforcement By law enforcement not effective as there are no alternatives in place for the homeless only displacements

28. ALTERNATIVE APPROACH • Identify at least 3 demarcated areas that will be monitored by Metro Police and CCTV as “sleeping compounds” with ablution facilities whilst Drop-in- Centres and shelters are being established • Reopen the Point Community Court to prosecute cases of by law infringements by homeless people • Support Depts: Metro Police, SAPS, EPWP Safety Volunteers, DSW, EWS, NPA

29. PUBLIC AWARENESS

30. PROGRESS ON INTERVENTIONS- PUBLIC AWARENESS • Two DARE2CARE initiatives held to support ICARE and Dennis Hurley Centre • 55 homeless people received ID application sponsorship of R140 per person during Dare2Care event • 2 homeless persons got employment from Building Foundation Trust Dare2Care participants • Establishment of Homeless Forum

31. PROGRESS ON INTERVENTIONS- Policy Development • Draft Social Development Strategy on review • Draft Shelter guidelines awaiting the adoption of Social Development Strategy in order to regulate shelters in line with Accommodation Establishment By Law • Vulnerable Groups Policy to incorporate homeless persons as the current policy is silent • Dept of Social Development does not have policy on homelessness but discussion to collaborate through MOU are underway

32. Integrated Policy on Homelessness: Best Practices City of Johannesburg City of Cape Town Social Development and Early Childhood Development Directorate with sub units: Substance Abuse, Street people, Early Childhood Development, Youth Prog, Vulnerable Groups, Poverty Alleviation Street People Policy City Homeless Agency Committee comprising of politicians, city officials and other stakeholders 6 x Assessment Centres in different parts of the city Strong partnerships with NGO’s including City Improvement District exists Shelters are supported by the City through grant funding • Social Development and Health Directorate established with sub units: Migration, Children, Displaced Persons, Social Benefits, Targeted Beneficiary, Resilience and Skills • Displaced Persons Unit has 9 staff compliment with 3 subdivisions: Operations, Programs and Overnight Shelters • Shelters are operated by NGO’s on behalf of the City • Accommodation at shelters is only referral by Operations team and the homeless person pays R8 per night

33. SAFER CITIES CURRENT RESOURCE ALLOCATION • 7 x Regions ( Central, Inner West, Outer West, North, Far North, South and Far South • Regional Staff Allocation: - 1 x Facilitator - 2 x Fieldworkers • All the above staff reports to the Manager :– Social Crime Prevention • Collaborations with other depts is critical

34. THANK YOU