Homelessness cost Capetonians more than R740-million last year. This is according to a seminal study done by the Coalition to End Homelessness on the financial impact of the scourge. 

The study, which found that more than 14,000 people live on Cape Town’s streets, was conducted before Covid-19 and initiated by U-Turn Homeless Ministries, a Cape Town-based NGO. It is the first costing study of its kind conducted in South Africa. 

Speaking at the launch event on Tuesday, Jon Hopkins, chief operations officer at U-Turn, said the current response to homelessness is not only expensive but ethically wrong and financially unsustainable. 

“Cape Town is spending most of its money on reactive or punitive responses to homelessness, mostly driven by the criminal justice response,” said Hopkins. 

Findings show that reactive measures accounted for 45% of the cost at R335.3-million. Of that amount, close to R287-million went towards criminal justice costs. 

The research further showed that the homeless are 11 times more likely to be arrested each year than the average person. Court time, incarceration and parole bring the cost to the criminal justice system to just under R20,000 per street person per year.

“Criminalising homelessness – such as issuing fines for begging or sleeping in public spaces – is both expensive and counterproductive,” the summary report read.

Current interventions are also failing to keep people off the streets long term. The average time a homeless person spent on the streets of Cape Town was eight and a half years.  

Chronic homelessness is an additional issue. Half of the street persons surveyed in the study were found to be chronically homeless, meaning they had lived on the streets for a year or more and struggled with serious mental illness, substance abuse or physical disability. 

“The longer someone is on the street, the harder it is to leave the streets and the more it costs,” said Hopkins. Chronic homelessness affects physical and mental health, treatment for which costs the public sector more as the homeless person’s needs become more complex. 

Where reactive measures accounted for 45% of the cost, developmental (long-term) responses such as shelters and services from the City of Cape Town and provincial departments of social development accounted for only 16%. 

According to Hopkins, the findings will be shared with the City of Cape Town and hopefully inform changes to the Street People Policy, which is currently being reviewed. 

“Homelessness can be ended if we use our resources correctly,” said Hopkins. DM