Church group assists overcrowded city shelter

Members of the Crawford Apostolic Faith Mission church have just arrived for their weekly delivery of cooked meals to the people who are sleeping in the shelter for the night.

In front of the dormitory, a makeshift overnight shelter has been set up, the walls made of gates boarded up with zinc sheets. The icy wind and light rain penetrate the shelter but dozens of men and women have braved the cold to queue. For most, it is their first meal for the day.

For the past month, church members have been supplying weekly meals to the shelter.

The Youth Solutions Shelter is situated near the Good Hope Centre on the edge of Salt River. Started by former social development fieldworker John Philmon in 2006, it offers shelter and food to both men and women over the age of 18. They can find overnight accommodation or enrol in a longer six month programme which includes training in carpentry and other skills. For those who work, a monthly contribution of about R400 is required.

Philmon says the project started out as a soup kitchen for the homeless in the city. “Based on the overwhelming need we saw, I opened the shelter. I found that there weren’t many shelters offering accommodation and a developmental programme,” Philmon said.

“I believe this is my calling.”

Plastic crates are used as beds to try and accommodate more people in the overnight facility. Photo by Barbara Maregele.

On Monday night, there were 24 women and 87 men in the dormitory and overnight facilities. Conditions in the dorm rooms were similar to well-supported shelters, but the overnight space was crowded, with beds made of thin mattresses and blankets on plastic crates in a bid to accommodate as many people as possible. The front part of the space was open to the wind.

“Many of these people come from broken households and communities that are not healthy environments,” said Philmon.

He said the shelter offered an assessment by a part-time social worker and then tried to connect people with their families, helped them get an ID and placed them in the job creation programme.

The City of Cape Town has provided blankets and food as part of its winter initiative, but Philmon said the shelter still struggled to meet the demand that continued throughout the year. He was worried about what would happen when the winter initiative ended this week and the shelter had to rely on donations and the R400 monthly contributions of the residents.

“When we apply for funding, I’m told that there are no funds,” he said.

He said the shelter had a good relationship with the Central City Improvement District. “They often bring people to us.”

A survey by the City found 7,383 homeless people, of whom 4,862 live and sleep on the streets and 2,521 sleep in shelters. The survey found that 79% of street people were male and nearly three-quarters were aged 26 to 45.

Members of the Crawford AFM church dishing rice and mince for nearly 100 people at the Youth Solutions Africa shelter in Salt River on Monday night. Photo by Barbara Maregele.

Correction: In an earlier version of this article we misspelt John Philmon’s surname.