Critics of the neo-liberal school of thought have identified that the fundamental problem of development is revealed through the missing link between planning and practice, and this is the reason that has exacerbated homelessness and chronic urban poverty rather than addressing it.

The role of technology must be harnessed along with the strengthening of manpower assistance. For this, the command and control centre and other initiatives and projects, as well as private consultants working as project monitoring unit in the government departments under the Smart Cities Mission, AMRUT, Swachh Bharat Mission, PMAY-U Housing for All, etc, must prioritised on an emergency basis.

By Dr. Indu Prakash Singh & IMPRI Team

Being the ‘greatest economic emergency since India’s Independence’, the spread of COVID-19 has brought the cities to a grinding halt. Yet again, it is the humongous population estimated at around 7.5 million (currently being served meals at relief camps and around 1.2 million using shelters there) consisting of the homeless, the street children and the migrant workers, who have been hit the hardest-after the ‘lockdown and stay-at-home’ orders came into effect from 00:00 hours of 25 March 2020. Thus, in the prevailing context, homes being the hedge of protection from coronavirus, the homeless will, unfortunately, need to brace for serious health risks and challenges.

Homeless residents contribute to the economy of the cities and of the nation as cheap labour in the informal sector. Lacking adequate resources, they are forced to live under miserable conditions with no shelter (in the open or roadside, pavements, inhume-pipes, under flyovers and staircases, or in the open in places of worship, mandaps, railway platforms etc.)or social security protection. Given this situation, homeless shelters come to rescue and perform a critical function in our communities. 

Taking cognizance of the problem of homelessness and to ensure dignified shelter and living conditions for the urban homeless, the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana National Urban Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NULM) was launched in 2016, after a decade long advocacy and umpteen actions for it. It made it pertinent to provide permanent 24 hours’ shelter (than merely a night shelter) equipped with benchmarked essential services to the urban homeless in a phased manner under the Scheme of Shelters for Urban Homeless (SUH).

Critics of the neo-liberal school of thought have identified that the fundamental problem of development is revealed through the missing link between planning and practice, and this is the reason that has exacerbated homelessness and chronic urban poverty rather than addressing it.

After all, cities provide the promise of better livelihood and opportunities, and the socio-economic distress are major push-factors for rural-to-urban migration.

Amongst the homeless citizens, the children seem to be among the uncared lot and are out of the purview of the administration. Even during current lockdown days, they have been found to be wandering from one shelter home to another looking for food.

They need care and shelter along with food and other basic healthcare essentials and have little knowledge about the coronavirus and the precautions that need to be taken to prevent themselves from being infected.

Access to hygienic space, hand sanitizers, masks, and gloves is implausible for them. In fact, the biggest scare is that they do fall in the high-risk category of catching the infection and therefore, a probable risk for everyone else as transmitter.

Engaged mostly in low paid informal jobs like construction labour (40%), rickshaw pulling (29%), begging (13%), rag-picking (9%) and self-employment i.e. selling newspaper, magazine, flowers and other items on roads/street (10%) etc., these homeless citizens virtually lost all means of their incomes with the country going on a ‘total lockdown’.

Responding to the plight of the migrant workers, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), has affirmed that total of around 38,000 relief camps and shelters for them have been set up in the states (including over 10 per cent contribution to these from NGOs), in which around 14 lakh people (stranded migrant workers and needy) have been given shelter. This translates into an average of 45 persons per shelter.

What is worrisome is that the government is itself complicit in the contravention of the NULM-SUH guidelines in the implementation of night shelters, which mandates a minimum of 50 square feet per person space in the shelter home.

With the coordination of the government, around 16.5 lakh workers are being provided food and relief by their employers and industries. An added concern is the maintenance of social distance (6 feet distance between two persons) and isolation to prevent the coronavirus from spreading. But, with relief camps being set up in a jiffy, these measures are being repudiated and has kept the threat of community transmission growing.

In fact, the homeless are faced with an unimaginable sense of food insecurity. Leaving it to them to do their best to avoid crowded areas and maintain the physical distancing principle during the virus catastrophe remains out of question. The nervousness and anxiety to receive the next meal seem to be more on their minds instead of the worry if they catch the infection.

The MHA has also claimed (as reported by states on April 10, 2020) that a total of around 26,000 food camps have been set up around the country, which is providing food to over 1crore people, i.e., an average of little less than 400 persons are being served per food camp.

An important point to be noted here is whether the physical distancing norms are being followed here. Another question that arises is the gross neglect of catering to the older adults or those who have underlying medical conditions among the homeless, as they are at higher risks of infection.

Added to this is the insufficient number of shelters for the urban homeless, which, as per the data available on the official website of NULM as on April 6, 2020, the total number of shelters for the urban homeless in India stood at 2263 (men- 268, women- 210, family- 24, general- 1565, special- 196) with a capacity of accommodating 1.03 lakh people (men- 13684, women- 6145, family- 2395, general- 70221, special- 10829). As per the Census 2011, the urban population was 37.7 crore in around 4000 cities (statutory) and 4000 census towns; the numbers of urban homeless being almost 10 lakh.

Therefore, according to the NULM guidelines (100 capacity shelter per 1 lakh population), there should be homeless shelters for approximately 4 lakh population, which currently stands at just 1.03 lakh. And if we input the NULM mandate of space per person, all the shelters (physical space) put together would not even be catering to one fourth of the 1.03 lakh homeless persons. It rather would highlight a very shocking facet of sick building syndrome, where people are sardined in shelters, even during the times of COVID -19.

Health departments and healthcare facilities should be aware that people who are homeless are a particularly vulnerable group. While ensuring that the services are rendered without fail, all shelters must have vigilant case managers, shelter staff, and other care providers to immediately isolate any person showing symptoms of COVID-19 and identify options for medical care as needed.

Those with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 should stay in a place where they can best be isolated from other people to prevent spreading the infection. Local health departments, housing authorities, homeless service systems and healthcare facilities should plan to identify locations to isolate those with known or suspected COVID-19 until they meet the criteria to end isolation.

Isolation housing could be units designated by local authorities (using many vacant and unutilized properties) or shelters determined to have capacity to sufficiently isolate these people. If no other options are available, homeless service providers should plan for how they can help people isolate themselves while efforts are underway to provide additional support. 

The role of technology must be harnessed along with the strengthening of manpower assistance. For this, the command and control centre and other initiatives and projects, as well as private consultants working as project monitoring unit in the government departments under the Smart Cities Mission, AMRUT, Swachh Bharat Mission, PMAY-U Housing for All, etc, must prioritised on an emergency basis.

AUTHORS: 

Indu Prakash Singh is Mentor at Impact and Policy Research Institute (IMPRI), New Delhi. He is Member of the State Level Shelter Monitoring Committee for Progress of Shelter for Urban Homeless in Delhi, appointed by the Government of NCT of Delhi on the Orders of the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India. Dr. Singh is also Facilitator, CityMakers Mission International and President, Forum Against Corruption & Threats (FACT).

Balwant Singh Mehta is Fellow at Institute for Human Development (IHD) and Co-Founder & Visiting Senior Fellow at Impact and Policy Research Institute (IMPRI), New Delhi. He holds a PhD in Economics from Jamia Millia Islamia University. His areas of research include gender, employment, inequality, poverty, child well-being, and ICT on development.

Simi Mehta is CEO & Editorial Director, Impact and Policy Research Institute (IMPRI), New Delhi. She holds a PhD in American Studies from School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). She was a Fulbright Fellow at the Ohio State University, USA. Her areas of research include US’ and India’s agriculture and foreign policies, international security studies, sustainable development, climate change, gender justice, urban environment and food security.

Arjun Kumar is Director, Impact and Policy Research Institute (IMPRI), New Delhi. He holds a PhD in Economics from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). With training in development economics, he has a specialization in econometrics and the use of statistical software to crunch big data. His research interests are in housing, basic amenities, urban and regional research, gender justice, sustainable development and, data and research methods.

Image Courtesy – Twitter post of Abhinandita Dayal Mathur, @abhinandita_m (Art and culture Advisor to Dy CM - Delhi government) Reuters via VOA News / Al Jazeera

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