Frontline care in the CBD
The woman charged with overseeing social support for people sleeping rough in Cape Town’s central city has spoken openly about her own past dependence on opioids while setting out a model of care that relies on peer support and dignity. Tara Gerardy‑Bissolati, social development manager at the Central City Improvement District (CCID), said her team tries to treat homelessness as a public‑health issue and works to build relationships with clients across the precinct.
Gerardy‑Bissolati told Spotlight that her team is responsible for the welfare of about 5 000 people sleeping rough in the city centre. She said the broader municipal estimates for the whole city are as high as 14 000 people without stable shelter.
Peer‑led outreach and the limits of shelters
The CCID’s approach includes a pioneering peer‑led project that trains former street‑dwellers and people with lived experience of substance use to engage others living on the streets. According to the reporting, these peers are intended to deliver practical support and hope, helping to link clients to services while using their shared histories to build trust.
“When you’re facing harsh weather conditions, it’s a sad situation and a very difficult cycle to break,” Gerardy‑Bissolati said.
She emphasised the complexity of moving people from life on the streets back into regulated shelter or services. Gerardy‑Bissolati said many of the chronically homeless are accustomed to living on their own terms and that placing them into a shelter with strict rules can be problematic and counterproductive.
- Scale: CCID engages with roughly 5 000 people sleeping rough in the central city precinct.
- Citywide context: Municipal estimates place the total number of people experiencing homelessness across Cape Town at up to 14 000.
- Method: Peer‑led interventions aim to use lived experience to re‑establish trust and link clients to services.
Personal experience shaping policy
Reporting says Gerardy‑Bissolati once used opioids to numb her own pain. That experience informs her work managing the CCID’s social‑development team from their office on the 13th floor. She described the work as knowing clients by name and tracking who is new to the precinct so they can be registered and offered services.
The peer‑led project, as described, targets the intersecting problems that keep people on the streets: poverty, substance use and mental‑health concerns. The ambition is to create pathways out of street life through steady, relationship‑based engagement rather than only offering emergency shelter beds.
| Measure | Number |
|---|---|
| People sleeping rough in central Cape Town (CCID) | 5 000 |
| Estimated homeless population across the city | Up to 14 000 |
Gerardy‑Bissolati said her team keeps track of regulars and newcomers, and seeks to register new clients so they can be put onto the CCID database and engaged with social services. That database function is critical for continuity of care and for prioritising outreach where it is most needed.
Practical challenges and ethical trade‑offs
The reporting highlights a tension familiar to service providers: the need to protect the dignity and autonomy of clients while also addressing immediate risks posed by sleeping rough, especially in winter. Gerardy‑Bissolati noted that the structure and rules of shelters can deter people who have adapted to life on the streets, complicating attempts to move them into more stable accommodation or treatment.
The CCID’s model leans on former street‑dwellers as a bridge to those still on the streets. By training peers to support clients, the organisation is trying to create a humane and pragmatic pathway that acknowledges the cyclical nature of homelessness and substance dependence.
As Cape Town enters the colder months, the challenge on the ground will be whether peer‑led engagement and the current array of services can reduce danger and promote long‑term exits from street life for some of the city’s most vulnerable residents.
