Counting Rough Sleepers in Cape Town:
Call for Volunteers
Wednesday, 13 November 2024, from 7pm to 11pm
Is homelessness getting worse or better?
It is impossible to tell for sure without conducting regular point-in-time counts, physically counting the number of people who are found rough sleeping on the streets of Cape Town. Therefore, several organisations working with homeless people are piloting the first of what is planned to be a street count that takes place every six months.
Where are we counting?
This is a pilot and we will expand the areas in future counts. For now, we will be trialling the count in four areas in Cape Town:
- CBD (and surrounds)
- Southern Suburbs: Rondebosch, Newlands, Claremont & Kenilworth
- Deep South: Muizenberg to Simons Town
- Northern Suburbs: Goodwood, Parow, Belville and Durbanville
Who are the organisers?
The following local nonprofits are helping to organise and run this important initiative:
What will I be expected to do?
Each area has a local hub. You will meet here at 7pm to receive training (on count tools and ethical engagement with people rough sleeping) and be assigned to a count area.
The count will happen between 8pm and 11pm. You will be part of a group of 4 or 5 and will be given an area to either walk/drive the streets and count the number of homeless people you find. Each group will include one person with lived experience of homelessness and known hotspot areas will be marked on the map.
When coming across an individual or group of people who are rough sleeping, as a team, you will count the number of people you see, as well as talking to people sleeping there to ask how many people are there. You will also ask a few people from each hotspot to complete a short survey.
You will collect data using a mobile app with backup from a paper-based form.
How will the data be used?
We want to prevent homelessness and make homelessness increasingly rare, brief and non-recurring. This data will support measurement of these outcomes with regular counts able to track trends over time. Anonymised data will be shared with different stakeholders to improve planning for and provision of homelessness services.
Is this ethical?
Cities across the world conduct regular point-in-time counts of homelessness. Research ethics have been applied for from the University of Pretoria (who conducted a similar count in 2022) and consent will be sought for any survey data collected.
What do we need?
There is no specific funding supporting this initiative, but we are crowd sourcing support for the count. Therefore, we need:
- Enumerators to do the count: It is just one evening / four hours of your time and will help you to understand homelessness in your local area in a completely different way.
- Preparing a hot meal: Support with preparing a hot meal and refreshments for volunteers who are undertaking the count.
- Serving the food / refreshments: Support with handing out the food / refreshments on the count evening
- Financial support: donations to cover out of pocket expenses such as the license for the data collection tool, bibs for enumerators and honorariums for people with lived experience joining the count. (It is estimated this will cost approximately R20k for the pilot across the different areas).
Volunteer Application