Streetscapes rehabilitates and empowers the unhomed.

Please support our mission to end homelessness.

Welcome to Streetscapes!

Home is where the heart is

Mission

Streetscapes is a Cape Town-based non-profit organisation driven by one lofty goal: the pursuit to end homelessness by growing better lives.

 

Our program provides job opportunities to those looking for a hand up, not a hand out. We work together with those living on the street to transform and rehabilitate their lives through work, community connection, harm reduction, psychosocial support and shelter.

What We Do

At Streetscapes we tackle the issue of homelessness using the following strategy.  We seek to first rehome and get our clients off the street as we have experienced greater success with reintegration when our clients have a safe space and home.  We seek to either rehome our clients in one of our houses, a partnering organization or we facilitate reconnection with family. 

 

In addition to rehoming support we place our clients on stipends and provide a much needed temporary work program in one of our gardens, farm or cleaning projects.  We believe that work provides much need purpose and our work spaces offer them a safe space and welcomed meal. 

 

Our dedicated team of field workers, counsellors and social workers work very closely with our clients on their personal recovery journey and offer invaluable support when it comes to basic medical care, banking and document support with Home Affairs & SASSA and assisting our clients with rehabilitation programs to address substance abuse challenges that they may be having. 

 

We adopt a harm reduction program and understand that eventual sobriety is a personal journey that takes time and we seek to help and coach our clients to make that decision for themselves.  As an organization we value our clients and put their needs first.  We seek to empower our clients and coach them to make good decisions for themselves and the communities that they live in. 

 

A good example of this is that our Homes are run by the clients and the community that they live in.  Our team of social workers play a guiding role in creating harmony and a respect for all, however the community actively runs and coordinates the daily tasks of the housing. 

 

We understand that the work is of a temporary nature and we seek to assist our clients with skills development, job readiness programs and learnership opportunities that come our way. 

 

At Streetscapes our goal is to bring an end to homelessness and we want all Capetonians to have a happy home. 

Urban Farms

At Streetscapes we have Social Enterprise initiatives that help support our ultimate project and program to address chronic homelessness.  We have been very fortunate to have been granted four urban spaces that we have transformed into beautiful gardens where our clients are able to work and play an active role un growing organic produce that we sell to the public and at markets. 

 

We have a larger space and small farm in Kuilsriver were we have an increased scale of organic produce that is grown in green house tunnels, hydroponics and eventual bioponics.  We also have 97 resident free range chickens laying lovely eggs on a daily basis that we bring to town on a weekly basis for sale at our gardens and markets. 

 

We have also recently introduced Bee Hives as a new project and have also started selling raw and unfiltered honey at our gardens and markets.  Through our stakeholders and partnership with Zurich University we have also initiated research projects and have a Eco Friendly Laundry at our Head Quarters in Roeland Street Gardens. 

 

The laundry is completely solarized and the water is completely recycled.  We have also started collaborating with Zurich University and a recent stakeholder to do a similar project on our Urban Farm in Kuilsriver where we already have solar power and we seek to also have a similar recycled water treatment system. 

 

Although our primary focus is an end to chronic homelessness, as an organization we are very mindful of the environment and well being of our people.  The urban gardens is a wonderful reflection of that vision and goal to provide a holistic work space that offers much needed work and therapy for our clients.