'90% of Cape Town's street children off the streets since 2000'

4 March 2019 8:10 AM

The Western Cape government has put measures in place to reduce the number of children living in the street.

The Homestead project for street children is one of the NGOs supported by government with the aim of moving children from living on the street and reconciling them with their families.

Founder of the project, Paul Hooper says it has managed to remove about 90% of the street children from the streets since 2000. He pegs the recovery rate, of children not returning to the streets, at 80%.

It has 90 boys in residential care and 300 in drop-in centres across the city.

Read: WC Soc Dev asks public to report children living on streets to get them help

We are all about educating and getting the children settled back to their families so that they don't return to the streets.
— Paul Hooper, Founder - The Homestead

We have about 90% success rate of children not returning to the streets.
— Paul Hooper, Founder - The Homestead

He says about 200 children enter street life annually.

Hooper outlined some of the challenges it encounters while trying to help these children. he describes an incident on Camps Bay where people gave street children skateboards which they then sold for hard drugs.

He agrees with the City that it requires a collective effort.