An exploratory study on subtance abuse among homeless people: a case study of Durban city centre.

Abstract

Homelessness has been an age-long and global challenge from years back; and up till now, it still exists across the human societies. Homelessness is, most of the time, linked with substance abuse, although this is not always the fact. The same scenario was observed in Durban Central City, where there are many people sleeping on the street in order to sustain a means of livelihood. The thesis aimed at examining the homeless and their relationship with substance abuse, understanding substance abuse as a contributory factor for crime perpetration, identifying the original cause of substance abuse among the homeless, as well as investigating the effects of the awkward situation on this category of people. The thesis adopted a theoretical integration of the strain and broken windows theories to explain the phenomenon. Using one-on-one open-ended semi-structure interviews, data were collected to describe the phenomenon in relation to relevant literatures. Findings also revealed that there still exists a long way to go in terms of attempting to eradicate issues that relate or contribute to the occurrence of homelessness vis-a vis the abuse of substances