Durban expected to see surge in homeless figure
The Denis Hurley Centre in Durban is planning on running its feeding programme for the homeless again.
Director, Raymond Perrier says they expect more people to be back on the streets with lockdown restrictions having been eased.
"We need to work out how many and how to do that in a way that protects people and observes all the rules of social distancing.
"So we're spending the next two weeks planning how to do that, talking to other organisations about working in partnership because we anticipate that we might be serving 400 or 500 lunches every day."
The centre has for years been serving the homeless meals daily and providing them with showers and clothing.
It's one of the facilities that have been providing emergency shelter to over 1 500 homeless people in the city since the lockdown began in March.
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The centre has taken in men who are sick, the elderly and disabled men for the lockdown.
Perrier says some of them have been trying to overcome their addictions – while others have reconnected with their families.
"People have been forced into a kind of detox because of the lockdown. Some of the people that have been at the Dennis Hurley Centre have now moved to a rehab centre and they'll start a longer rehabilitation programme in the hopes that they won't return to the drugs once the drugs get easily accessible again."