City of Cape Town taking a step backwards in Homelessness in amendments to Streets By-Law

Ndifuna Ukwazi strongly condemns the City of Cape Town’s proposed amendments to the Streets, Public Places, and Prevention of Noise Nuisances By-law, 2007 (“Streets By-law”). While minor revisions have been made, the amendment retains punitive measures that criminalise homelessness, perpetuating a harmful and unconstitutional approach to one of Cape Town’s most pressing socio-economic challenges.??

The original By-law allowed the City to fine individuals for living on the streets, infringing on their fundamental human rights. In 2021, eleven individuals, known as the Gelderbloem applicants, filed a constitutional challenge, asserting that the By-law unfairly discriminates against people experiencing homelessness. Although the City amended the By-law in September 2021 to allow for the arrest of individuals who refused shelter, the proposed 2024 amendments, while removing arrest powers, still criminalise those who decline so-called “alternative shelter.”

The City’s reliance on punitive measures highlights its failure to provide adequate long-term affordable housing solutions, forcing homeless individuals into temporary shelters that do not address their dignity or long-term needs. The City’s ongoing reliance on punitive measures draws unsettling parallels to apartheid-era laws like the Prevention of Illegal Squatting Act, 1951, which criminalised homelessness to enforce segregation. In contrast, the Prevention of Illegal Eviction and Unlawful Occupation of Land Act (PIE) decriminalised homelessness and recognised the need for judicial oversight in evictions.

By criminalising individuals who refuse shelter, the proposed Streets By-law Amendment undermines these democratic principles. It disregards systemic drivers of homelessness—poverty, unemployment, mental illness, and addiction—by unjustly shifting the blame onto individuals struggling to survive.

According to Jonty Cogger, PhD an attorney at Ndifuna Ukwazi Law Centre:?

“Poverty and homelessness are not crimes; they require compassionate, constructive solutions. Treating homelessness as a criminal issue stigmatises Cape Town’s most vulnerable residents and perpetuates structural inequality. Shelters offered by the City are often overcrowded and fail to meet the diverse needs of street-based individuals, particularly those living with mental health challenges or substance dependency.”

Ndifuna Ukwazi calls on the City of Cape Town to repeal provisions that criminalise homelessness and adopt a progressive, human-rights-based approach. Instead of punitive measures, the City must prioritise affordable housing, healthcare, and economic inclusion.?

According to Richard Bolland , chairperson New Hope SA

“While we fully support well-run spaces and shelters that make it easier for people to make their way out of homelessness, there’s no denying that many people seeking shelter and services report negative experiences with overcrowded or mismanaged sites. It’s a well documented fact that criminalising homelessness is costly and ineffective. If we want Cape Town to be a place where everyone lives with dignity, we must do more to improve shelters and implement practical, evidence-based and dignifying policies that help people recover and rebuild their lives.”

The Gelderbloem applicants’ constitutional challenge offers a critical opportunity to dismantle an oppressive framework that criminalises survival. We urge the City to uphold its constitutional obligations by addressing the root causes of homelessness and ensuring Cape Town becomes a city that fosters dignity, inclusion, and justice for all.

Thank you to Richard Bolland and Vikki Loles for this incredible artwork for our social media campaign:

Most of our shelters and Safe Spaces aren’t designed to help people make their way out of homelessness for good. Short-term interventions at overcrowded or mismanaged sites are failing our unhoused neighbours. But we can change this:

1. We can support well-run spaces and improve shelters by implementing practical, evidence-based and dignifying policies that help people recover and rebuild.
2. We can ask decision-makers to engage and collaborate with people who have real life experience—so the city can invest in lasting solutions that actually work.
3. We can educate ourselves and talk to friends and family about the facts. Cities that are ending homelessness have embraced inclusive solutions (which cost less, too), whereas studies show the least effective + most costly approaches are punitive.

If we back proven solutions like transitional housing paired with psychosocial support services, we can make Cape Town a stronger, healthier, more resilient city where everyone lives with dignity and a roof over their head.

Let’s support well-run spaces and make it easier for people to make their way out of homelessness for good.