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The City’s Community, Arts and Culture Development Department (CACD) is ramping up support for Non Profit Organisations to bolster their capacity in helping people sleeping rough on the street with shelter and social support during winter. Read more below:

As part of its annual Winter Preparedness Programme, the City will provide resources to help increase shelter capacity and improve support services for vulnerable residents facing the elements. 

Applications for assistance closed on 4 April 2025, with 11 shelters applying for support. These applications represent a potential 200 additional bed spaces across the metropole. The applications are now being reviewed, with the planned allocation of resources set to start in May.

As has become custom, the City supports shelters by supplementing their available resources with food parcels, toiletries, mattresses and bedding as well as Expanded Public Works Programme workers to assist with cooking and cleaning.

‘The winter aid programme is critical in easing the load on shelters. We do see an increase in persons seeking assistance during the winter months, particularly given the very severe weather  that we have experienced over the past two seasons. Our Community, Arts and Culture Development Department will continue to help those in need throughout the long Cape winter, but we also ask the public to assist where possible. Please donate goods or cash to a shelter of your choosing, or even volunteer at a facility, and help make a meaningful difference in the lives of persons on the street or working towards reintegration,’ said Mayoral Committee Member for Community Services and Health, Councillor Francine Higham. 

As part of the City’s efforts, persons can be accommodated free of charge at a City-run Safe Space or at partner NGOs, which is a transitional shelter. Once there, they also have access to personal and skills development programmes, and even short term work opportunities.

Apart from the winter aid, more longer-term plans are also in progress to ensure the sustainability of NPOs working with persons living on the streets. Chief among these are plans to provide capacity building training for shelters in partnership with the provincial Department of Social Development (DSD), with the aim of ensuring compliance with various legislative requirements.

Among the training topics are financial management, Environmental Health management, and Building & Development.

To access services related to street people, please call 0800 872 201.

Issued by the City of Cape Town