Developing a green paper on homelessness in South Africa: inception report

Abstract

This report has been produced in response to the National Department of Social Development's (DSD) commitment to develop a national homelessness policy in South Africa. With the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, DSD was mandated to coordinate a policy on Homelessness and produced a Diagnostic Report in this regard (see Sonko-Najjemba et al., 2022). Informed by the policy development processes outlined in the National Policy Development Framework (2020), this report outlines the approaches that will be used to develop the Green Paper on Homelessness in South Africa. The report commences with a brief literature review on homelessness in contemporary South Africa, followed by a statement on the working definition on homelessness we will apply in this project. We then outline the rationale for a homelessness policy in South Africa, after which the project aims and objectives will be presented. The methodology to be employed in the Green Paper development process will be described, and the report will conclude with an outline of the proposed project timelines and the project team.