TOR for the TISS CES fellow for the National Homeless Unit

The Context
With India being increasingly globalized and urban, there are also an increasing number of poor people living in the cities. According to the Urban Poverty report 2009, the ratio of urban poverty in some of the larger states is actually greater than that of rural poverty leading to what is known as Urbanization of Poverty. The term urban poverty signifies deprivation in terms of housing and shelter, water, sanitation, health, education, social security and livelihoods. The most vulnerable group amongst the urban poor is the homeless who are denied dignity and the basic right to all of the above. In the Eighth Report of the Commissioners to the SC the plight of the urban homeless and their everyday struggle in the city for securing a decent livelihood and shelter clearly shows that the homeless people are invisible to the policy makers of our country. India, as the fastest growing economy in Asia, contributes a big chunk of share to both density urban population and urban poor. Over 286 million people now are inhabitants of the countrys cities1; three of them, namely, Mumbai, Delhi and Calcutta, are haven of 17 percent (17%) of the worlds slum dwellers2; destination of an estimated 1 million workers coming from agriculture every year with around 34,000 not getting into the organized sector; and refuge of countless number of child laborers many are girls trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation3. Based on the population growth pattern, it is expected that 41 percent (41%) of Indias total population will be living in urban two decades from now. This is an indicator that more slum dwellers, jobless or casual workers and child laborers would inhabit the cities, creating a phenomenon called urbanization of poverty4. With currently urban poverty posing problems of space, housing, livelihood and or employment, water, sanitation, health, education, social security along with the social needs of the vulnerable groups such as children, persons with disabilities, aged and women (disregarding the fact that certain aspects of economic development associated with the process of urbanization i.e., restructuring and dismantling of larger industries like mills and slum demolitions has backwash effect complicating the predicament of the urban poor), this would be a worst case scenario.5 The recent report on urban poverty backed by UNDP6 relates that Indian state governments are wrestled with challenges on making the cities inclusive, productive, efficient and manageable. This they could only do by seeing urban development from the context of the urban poor highlighting their rights for affordable and accessible adequate basic amenities, social services, and access to livelihood opportunities which require efficient urban planning, good governance and strong political will. They should as well see urban poor as partner rather as mere subjects of all these efforts.

See India: Urban Poverty Report 2009 at http://data.undp.org.in/poverty_reduction/Factsheet_IUPR_09a.pdfhttp://www.undp.org.in/inde x.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=239&Itemid=322 2 UN-HABITAT, 2006. See http://www.unhabitat.org/ 3 Judy L. Baker. Urban Poverty: A Global View. World Bank. 2008. See http://wwwwds.worldbank.org/external/default/main? pagePK=64193027&piPK=64187937&theSitePK=523679&menuPK=64187510&searchMenuP 4 Concentration of poverty in cities due to urbanization. 5 See India: Urban Poverty Report 2009 at http://www.undp.org.in/index.php? option=com_content&task=view&id=239&Itemid=322 6 See India: Urban Poverty Report 2009 at http://data.undp.org.in/poverty_reduction/Factsheet_IUPR_09a.pdfhttp://www.undp.org.in/inde x.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=239&Itemid=322

Homelessness in India: a stark reality

In India, urban poverty is so real with millions of homeless people squandering at almost every corner of its cities. They generally occupy any vacant space i.e., roadsides, pavements, temple-mandaps, and platforms as temporary abode while, ascribed their condition to extreme poverty, unavailability of low cost housing, unstable employment, and violence instituted at home. Street children, beggars, sex workers, and daily wage earners such as construction workers, rickshaw pullers, and street vendors basically are among the homeless in India. 7 A census conducted in 2001 indicates that there are 1.94 million homeless people living in India. Threefifth (3/5) of them is living in villages and two-fifth (2/5) is in cities and towns. This figure however is viewed an underestimation for approximation point out that merely the population of street children and beggars are accounted 18 million and six (6) million, respectively. 8 The plight of the urban homeless in the country is highlighted by the 8th Report of the Commissioners of the Supreme Court9. The report underscores ordeals the day to day life offers to them. Homelessness itself is considered a crime. They are stigmatized criminals and or mentally ill. Their mere existence is deemed illegal due to the danger posed by their presence. Their dwelling in public or public spaces is as well an offense. Several laws and policies regulating urban land are barring them from building shelters. Homeless people survive through causal and unprotected arduous labor, vagrancy, and or prostitution. With unfixed income vis--vis source of living, they are paying everything i.e., a utilization of toilet, a bath, transportation, a drinking water, and or a shelter when they choose to stay in it in a night or so; tall financial expenses they have to burden besides other social services they need to avail e.g., healthcare, which is unimaginable for regular meals requires an enormous expense which is difficult to manage. In fact, often, they eat according to what they can afford, forged, and or is given by charity or vagrancy. Its quantity or quality is no longer a consideration provided there is something to fill their hungry stomachs. Due to this practice - irregular, less or poor dietary intake - they suffer from ill health. This condition makes them susceptible to extreme weather conditions. The rise or fall in temperature increases the basal metabolism rate (BMR) of a body resulting to a requirement for more calorie intake to maintain its temperature. Several numbers of homeless people died in the streets in winter 2009 due to a very cold weather and in no avail their demise could be associated to starvation. Despite of all these however, being among the most vulnerable and disadvantaged in the society, they are not covered by food schemes.10 According to the aforementioned report of the OSCC, 60 percent of them do not receive any form of assistance provided for below the poverty line (BPL) category of the population merely because they do not have a proof of residence.

The opportunity - Urban Homeless Adults: Right to live with dignity

Based on the reports of the Commissioners and further to the petitions filed by the Office of the Supreme Court Commissioners reporting the deaths of homeless people in the streets of Delhi on January 13, 2010, the Supreme Court ordered the State Government to put up 100 temporary shelters in the city for homeless adults. The order also mentioned the setting up of permanent shelters but at later stage for the homeless adults, setting up residential schools for the children, setting up of community kitchens, providing AAY cards and ration cards to the homeless adults. Taking a step ahead the SC in its order of May 5, 2010 stated that the same directions issued in the context of Delhi would be applicable to all the
7 8

See Harsh Manders essay Living Rough. See Office of the Commissioners of the Supreme Courts The 8th Report at http://www.sccommissioners.org/ 9 See http://www.sccommissioners.org/reports.

They are denied of ration cards and all benefits of the various schemes due to not in possession of proof of fixed residence. See http://www.sccommissioners.org/reports.
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other states and UTs. In the latest order of April 19 2011 the SC ordered that all cities and UTs under the JNNURM (Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission) should put up 24hour permanent shelters as well as residential schools under SSA, in areas of concentration of homeless population according to the prescribed numbers.

The Vision
Set in the above context the present vision of constituting a National Resource Team for the Urban Homeless is proposed which would ideally be helpful for the state Governments and civil society with necessary technical and managerial support to work with the target group as they lack expertise and experience of working with them. The National resource team would be a group of well trained and committed professional group that would build the Citizens groups in different cities. They would steer the implementation of the SC guidelines in the various cities across India. This would include developing guidelines for the rights and services to be provided to the urban homeless, to advocate and work with the government in planning for these services, to develop and support youth groups for effective implementation and lastly to monitor the progress of these efforts across designated JNNURM cities in a phased manner.

Objectives of setting up the National Team homeless adults and children

To set up a National resource team for homeless adults and children that would undertake the following tasks:

1. Knowledge and capacity building: develop detailed guidelines and training support for
governments to provide services as rights to urban homeless populations.

2. Advocacy and Resource Mobilization : Use policy forums (NAC), judicial interventions
(Supreme Court and Commissioners Office) to promote adoption of these guidelines by state governments

3. Direct Implementation(Setting up model homes on the ground) : To implement these

guidelines on field by running 4 model shelters in all the 7 cities (single men, single Women, street children boys and street children girls) along with other interventions like setting up community kitchens, building and supporting citizen groups etc. The National Team will also be structured around these 3 objectives in the form of functional areas. The key deliverables will also be associated with these 3 functional areas.

The program approach

Based on the experience, Centre for Equity Studies and TISS collaborate for setting up the National Resource Team for the Homeless which will involve the following activities: 1. To develop detailed guidelines for governments to provide services as rights to urban homeless populations. These include: a) shelters including specialized shelters for homeless adults keeping in mind special requirements for single women and women with children b) residential schools for homeless children; c) community kitchens; c) access to affordable housing; d) access to health care services; e) access to de-addiction services; f) decriminalization of begging and their

2. 3.

4.

5.

livelihoods, and legal aid; g) access to individual entitlements, including ICDS, ration cards, pensions, financial inclusion etc. Use policy forums (NAC), judicial interventions (Supreme Court and Commissioners Office) to promote adoption of these guidelines by state governments To support governments to implement these guidelines by helping to (a) Develop a model homeless shelter plan for 8 JNNURM cities initially (b) Monitor the progress of the building of the shelters in the 8 JNNURM cities To implement these guidelines on field by (a) Run at least 4 model shelters (single men, single Women, street children boys and street children girls) (b) Start other interventions in the 8 cities like community kitchens, homeless seminars etc. (c) Building and supporting a collective of Citizen groups, including non-profit organizations, community based organizations, youth groups etc. in running these shelters and community kitchens Develop and document models and best practices of homeless shelters and other entitlements according to the needs of the different groups

The Cities proposed for direct implementation work

The following cities have been shortlisted for Phase 1 of the national team. The cities have been shortlisted on the following criteria: Homeless population in the cities Presence of CES and its partners in the cities Co-operation of the state government and the local municipal bodies

Target cities for this phase: 1. Lucknow 2. Patna In all these 7 cities there are strong partners who are already well established in their work and have a history of work with the homeless.

Job Descriptions
Title: TISS CES Fellows Total Positions: 2 Essential Qualifications: MSW or Post graduates in any discipline. Responsibilities:

The fellows will be working directly with the city leaders The fellows will be working across all 3 functional areas of Knowledge and capacity building, Advocacy and Resource Mobilization and Direct Implementation Fellows would be responsible for establishing networks with and enabling youth groups in running the shelters efficiently and while upholding the utmost quality standards

Work with other interest groups working on homeless issues in their respective cities This team would work in close association with the State Advisors to right to food case