Introduction: Homeless people are unable to get and maintain regular, safe, and sound houses or lack of fixed, usual and adequate night-time residence. Urban homeless people constitute the most marginalized and invisible category.Objective: To study the sociodemographic and economic characteristics of homeless living at one such "night shelter" in Delhi.
Materials and Methods:In a conveniently chosen "night shelter" for homeless, 48 families were interviewed. Data was collected for 258 individuals. Data about sociodemographic characteristics, income, any addiction and self-reported health problems was collected.
Results:The average number of family members was 5.38. 51.94% participants were adult. Dependency ratio was 88.32%. 91.8% of adult subjects were illiterate. Illiteracy was more common among adult females. 67.74% children were out of school with a higher proportion of females among these children (53.66%). 18.55% children were working to support their family income. Average daily per capita family income was Rs. 113.02 94. 2% including children were addicted to a tobacco-containing dentifrice. Addiction to tobacco or alcohol was common among adults of both sexes (63%).
Conclusion:We observed that women and children form a sizable number among the homeless. Very little is known about the characteristics of this vulnerable population, which therefore requires urgent attention.
Keywords
IntroductionHomelessness is a condition in which people, especially in urban areas, do not have a regular and secure dwelling. Homeless people are unable to get and maintain regular, safe, and sound houses or lack a fixed, usual and adequate night-time residence.1 The term homeless includes people whose primary night-time residence is a shelter at adhoc housing situation. Street-dwelling people and people spending their time in unoccupied buildings are also termed homeless.1 Recently, it is being increasingly recognized that population residing in temporary, insecure or physically ruined sub-standard accommodation is also considered as homeless.
1The legal definition of homeless varies from country to country.1 United Nations defines homeless households as those without shelter falling in the scope of living quarters.