“I had to leave my village in Belagavi and come here with my daughter after I learned of my husband’s extramarital affair. I have no home now,” says Manjula* who works in a hotel and lives with her daughter in a shelter for the homeless run by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP).
“Our crops in Raichur were all ruined due to extreme weather and our returns have reduced drastically over the years. We had to shift to the city for any work to survive,” says Raja*, who stays in an all-male shelter. His wife and daughter stay in a women’s shelter because Bengaluru has no family shelters, despite provisions for this in the Shelter for Urban Homeless scheme (SUH). The scheme, under the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Urban Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NULM) for poverty eradication, sets the criteria for homeless shelter provision in cities.
Urban homeless include people from different walks of life, like those who fled from domestic abuse or were banished from home, mentally ill people and migrants. Amidst worsening summers and monsoons, they hope for a roof over their heads. But the shelters provided to them are no better than the shade on the street.
“Since I work in construction, I sleep at construction sites whenever I get work. When I don’t have work, I crash on a footpath or flyover,” says Hemanth* who came to Bengaluru a few months ago in search of work. He refuses to go to the closest BBMP homeless shelter in Peenya as it’s too cramped and humid.
Who are the ‘urban homeless’?
A survey BBMP commissioned to Impact India Consortium (IIC), a network of 45 NGOs working on homelessness, identified 5,109 homeless people in 2019.
“There is no consensus on the definition of the homeless. If we go by the United Nations definition, we must include migrants who stay in temporary shelters and blue sheds. Then the number of homeless in the city would easily touch 15,000,” says Syed Tousif Masood, Programme Manager at Namma Kutumba, a joint initiative of four NGOs working on homelessness in Bengaluru.
BBMP Welfare Department told this reporter that they regard only those without a shelter, sleeping at places of work, bus stations, markets, railway stations, etc., as homeless, as directed by DAY-NULM. They don’t count the migrants living in temporary shelters.
As per the New Urban Poverty Alleviation Mission too, homeless persons include those who live and sleep in places under the open sky or places unfit for human habitation. This Mission is a pilot to Centre’s new programme that would soon replace DAY-NULM. Activists are requesting that the definition specify that the homeless include those seeking temporary or permanent shelter.
The varying definitions used by BBMP and activists have led to widely different counts of homeless people in surveys, ranging from 5,000 to 17,000.
Narasimhappa T V, human rights activist and researcher, says the number also varies depending on the season: “The majority go back to their hometowns during monsoons and migrate here for work during summers. Many people also keep vacating depending on work and alternative accommodation.”
Read more: Invisible and struggling: Common water taps a rarity in Bengaluru’s undeclared slums
As per the SUH, cities must provide permanent shelters to at least 100 people per lakh of population. Bengaluru’s population was over 80 lakh as per the 2011 Census, and is estimated to be around one crore now. This means BBMP should provide permanent shelters to about 10,000 homeless people. But currently Bengaluru only has a sixth of this capacity, just 1,650. In 2024-25, a total of only 2,610 people used the shelters, far lower than the city’s homeless population by any estimate.
Besides, BBMP shelters offer no option for permanent stay, and their rehabilitation programme is lacking. “My son left me here to avoid paying for an old age home. If I’m sent away, where will I go?” wells up Sridevi*, 75, who stays at the Kumbara Gundi women’s shelter near Town Hall.
Bengaluru has 48 homeless shelters, with multiple shelters accommodated in the same building in some locations. As of this February, SUH set a target of 84 shelters for the city, of which BBMP has approved 74. But the Palike is facing difficulty procuring land for the 26 new shelters. “As BBMP lands are located in areas not suited for shelters, we are requesting individuals and institutions like hospitals to provide or rent us space. But there’s a lot of stigma against the homeless population,” says Suralkar Vikas Kishore, Special Commissioner, BBMP Welfare Department.
Other than the low capacity, many shelters in Bengaluru are too dilapidated to offer basic protection from harsh weather.
Homeless shelters built of metal sheets, lack windows
The women’s shelter in Upparpete, Majestic, is right next to a dumping ground and is built of metal sheets. The structure guarantees no safety from winds or rains. “As a women’s shelter, at least basic safety should be guaranteed to residents. A tree fall may break this structure. A concrete building would assure the residents of safety,” says shelter manager Lakshmi.
The men’s shelter in Tulasi Thota, Majestic, also is a metal sheet structure that traps heat, making it humid even during monsoons.
The roofs of many shelters also leak occasionally during monsoons.
Shelters in Sampangi Rama Nagara, Yeshwanthpur and Kumbara Gundi have no windows at all. The two men’s shelters in Sampangi Rama Nagara are housed inside a newly renovated building with fancy glass exteriors but no windows or drinking water. Together, these shelters have 58 beds cramped in two adjacent small spaces on the same floor. “Because of the glass exterior, officials said they cannot do anything about windows. It gets very hot and humid in summers,” says Vishnu*, a resident.
Similarly, in Yeshwanthpur women’s shelter, 16 beds are cramped on the fourth floor of the BMTC bus station with no windows. A men’s shelter in Kumbara Gundi has no windows, being sandwiched between two other shelters.
The Peenya men’s shelter has only one fan for 20 beds. Besides the humidity, residents have to put up with pungent smell and mosquitoes from the adjacent rajakaluve. The windows have no mosquito mesh, potentially exposing residents to dengue.
Homeless shelters offer no protection from cold either
Most shelters lack geysers, making bathing difficult for elderly people. “I just clench my teeth and take a quick bath,” says Ramappa*, aged around 70, a resident of Goods Shed Road shelter. In some shelters, residents use coils to heat water.
The 15 shelters this reporter visited had no good-quality cots either. Suralkar says tenders have been called for new cots and bed sheets.
At the Sampangi Rama Nagara shelters, built three years ago, residents still sleep on metal beds. “We have written so many letters to the BBMP and received no response. Whenever we complain, we’re told to either stay or to get out if it’s too inconvenient,” says Naveen*, a resident.
Many shelters lack regular water, power supply
Despite being situated on BBMP land, Peenya shelter has no BESCOM connection and draws power from the common electricity pole.
The women’s shelter in Kumbara Gundi has no taps to provide running water, so residents have to store water pumped from the building’s borewell. “There are many elderly women here and it is difficult for them to carry buckets to the bathrooms and toilets,” says a caretaker here, on condition of anonymity. The borewell too dried up a month ago.
The women’s shelter in Upparpete lacks space for water storage, and relies on the water connection from a nearby government building. So the residents — elderly women, menstruating women, and children — get no water on government holidays, forcing them to store water in advance.
Lack of running water forces residents of some shelters to collect water from common borewells, tankers or RO plants. “Our motor broke a year ago. It’s tough carrying water from distant RO plants up two flights of stairs,” says Manju*, resident of Upparpete men’s shelter.
Poor quality shelters worsen health risks from climate change
Though the homeless are obviously vulnerable to climate change, government’s monsoon preparedness plans or heat action plans don’t identify them as a ‘vulnerable group.’ The Karnataka State Heat Wave Action Plan 2024-25 highlights the vulnerability of gig workers, street vendors, waste pickers and construction labourers, but not the homeless.
“Metal sheets have no insulation and their thermal absorption capacity is very high, be it cold or hot. So they won’t give any thermal comfort to residents during summers or winters, and can be a strong co-risk for hypothermia and hyperthermia,” says Vidhya Venugopal, Professor of Climate Change, Occupational and Environmental Health at Sri Ramachandra Institute of Higher Education and Research, Chennai. “Lack of proper cooling structures, along with irregular electricity and water supply, traps heat inside during summers. Long-term residents of these structures may develop health issues like respiratory infections, cardio-vascular or kidney problems.”
She says the lack of thermal comfort particularly affects outdoor workers who live in the shelters: “It affects their sleep quality, which in turn reduces their cognition levels. They start having interpersonal conflicts in workplaces and shelters, their productivity levels drop and they may be more prone to workplace accidents.”
Additionally, lack of access to water and clean toilets can worsen dehydration among residents in the summers and winters. And lack of nutritious food reduces their immunity against even mild health issues, adds Vidhya.
Ramu* developed severe pain in his leg a few months ago and lost his job as he couldn’t work without breaks. When his children refused to take him in, he moved to the Goods Shed Road shelter. He says the doctors he consulted during routine check-ups at the shelter gave him painkillers but no advice on recovery.
A few shelters in Bengaluru arrange monthly or quarterly check-ups for residents through tie-ups with nearby government hospitals. But these checks mostly involve testing blood pressure and sugar only, and doesn’t offer adequate treatment for specific health conditions.
Homeless people actively contribute to the city’s economy through various jobs, yet remain deprived of basic facilities. Part 2 of this series will explore why homeless shelters are poorly run and the steps for their improvement.
*Names have been changed to protect identity.