Gender(ed) Pathways and Exits Out of ‘Street’ Homelessness in Tshwane, South Africa?: A Transformative Social Policy Perspective

Year 2024, Volume: 44 Issue: 2, 589 - 608, 31.12.2024

Newman Tekwa

Abstract

While homelessness remains a gendered experience, the latest census data from the South African Statistical Agency (StatsSA), focusing solely on rooflessness and emergency shelters, indicates that, in the last census decade, the homeless population in the City of Tshwane increased by over 60%, from 6,244 in 2010 to 10,029 in 2022. Though lacking a gender perspective, analyses by the same agency revealed that in Tshwane, 29.9% of the people experiencing homelessness were female. Tshwane also has the highest number of people experiencing homelessness at the national level. This is set against a background in which the Pathways out of Homelessness project marked its 10th anniversary in August 2024. Born out of public outcry, Pathways out of Homelessness is a collaborative research project between a local government, academic institutions and civil society organisations in the City of Tshwane, aimed at finding lasting solutions and pathways out of homelessness in the city. Using a gendered lens framed within a transformative social policy framework, this paper interrogates Pathways out of Homelessness’ exclusive focus on ‘street’ homelessness, vis-à-vis surging homeless populations. Findings from the study indicate that a lack of understanding of gendered pathways in and out of homelessness in South Africa, coupled with the mainstream focus on ‘street’ homelessness and homeless shelters, explains why the city is losing ground in addressing homelessness.

Keywords

Homelessness, Gender pathways, Transformative social policy, Pathways out of Homelessness project, City of Tshwane, South Africa

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