WATCH: Life adjacent – The narrow gap between those with homes and those without

When speaking with people in unhoused communities or shelters around Cape Town, an issue that is brought up again and again is the harmful assumptions others make about them. There are a range of factors that can lead to a person losing their home – a shrinking job market, domestic abuse, gang violence, addiction, mental health struggles or economic shocks like the Covid-19 pandemic. What remains consistent is how difficult it is to escape homelessness.