Lakhs homeless in Delhi, little planning on their relief
New Delhi: Below the city's flyovers, across busy pavements and near markets, there are faces we pass by every day. They are Delhi's homeless hundreds — barefoot, faces streaked with dust, squatting on the hard ground under torn tarpaulin or selling their wares at traffic crossings.
Among those who end up on the streets, many come to the city seeking a better life but end up on the pavement. There have been talks of schemes to make their lot better, such as the Support for Marginalized Individuals for Livelihood and Enterprise (SMILE). There are night shelters for the homeless, but thousands still sleep on the roadside, battling hunger, harsh weather and cold concrete.
Dr Indu Prakash Singh, a member of the State Level Shelter Monitoring Committee (SLSMC), Delhi, in inputs for the UN-Habitat global report, has highlighted the scale of the issue.
He cited a survey from Aug 2024. During this survey, 1,56,369 people were counted as sleeping on Delhi's streets between 11pm and 5.30am. The estimated homeless population in the city is over 3,00,000. Women, children, the elderly, the disabled, pregnant women, the mentally ill and those recovering from addiction or illnesses are the most vulnerable.
"The current shelters are not enough," he said. "Delhi has more shelters than many cities in the world.
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Govt also provides food and medicines at the shelters. But, there are not enough of them, and many people still sleep outside. The National Urban Livelihood Mission's Shelter for Urban Homeless (SUH) scheme, launched in 2013, was meant to change this. But even after 10 years, the challenge remains."
Dr Singh added that the city's shelter capacity falls short by almost 90% of the requirement under the Master Plan for Delhi, 2021.
The impact of the homeless on the city's landscape is visible. Suchita Kacker Meena, a Delhi resident, said: "Sustainable solutions to homelessness lie in building more shelters, creating job opportunities and ensuring effective implementation of rehabilitation programmes."
For the homeless, boundary grills become clotheslines, footpaths become kitchens, and spaces under flyovers are makeshift homes. The homeless sell balloons, toys and trinkets on the road.
A DUSIB official said: "The court has assigned us responsibility, but the challenge remains. Many homeless people return to the streets despite food and shelter. Some families stay for decades, others never come. We rescue at least 40–50 people daily. They use the night shelters but leave by morning. We urge donors to give to shelters.... We've proposed skill-based programmes for employment."
He added that the "lack of manpower (at the shelters) is a big issue.
The key is creating jobs in home states to reduce migration to Delhi."
BJP had guaranteed removing homelessness if it formed a govt. In Feb 2025, while hearing a case on urban homelessness, Supreme Court questioned if offering jobs would be better than giving freebies. While it acknowledged the need for shelter for the homeless was a priority, it stressed the importance of a balance in welfare policies.
Experts say the root of the issue is deeper — gaps in housing policies, long-term support and lack of inclusion.
"Remove poverty, bring jobs everywhere, and homelessness will disappear," Dr Singh said. "The tragedy of this country is that the poor are persecuted and not supported. If poverty schemes truly worked, we wouldn't be here discussing this."
He said that homelessness "isn't the issue. The lack of work is. The real problem is a govt deficit — not of money, but of care and commitment."
Many times, the social welfare department puts all responsibility on DUSIB, he said.
"but DUSIB is an engineering body, not a welfare body.... Govt must come up with a holistic policy on this — at central and state levels."
Sunil Kumar Aledia, executive director of the Centre for Holistic Development (CHD), said: "The cityscape may be important, but addressing the problem of homelessness is also crucial."
He added that the solution lay in "long-term planning, like the five-year plans we had earlier. There were discussions about housing rights for the homeless then.... We need at least five years of dedicated effort, especially for housing policies. Marginalised sections can contribute to the Smart City projects too."
He added that homeless people would have to be "brought to the mainstream."
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