"Not just numbers!" Homeless people as potential economic contributors in Tshwane

Statistics on homelessness in the City of Tshwane fail to give us ideas about the capacities homeless people have that could be used as a stepping stone for their own economic empowerment and development. Stories of homeless people considered in this research affirm that there are real people behind those "cold" numbers. This research further unearths by means of a basic capacity inventory the potential for economic contribution that a homeless community could make in Tshwane. I found that, given the resources and support needed, the homeless community that participated in this research has the capacity to contribute, through self-employment, cooperatives, internship programmes, formal employment and so forth, to many industries in the City of Tshwane, some of which are mentioned in the article.