Houseless Population in India: Trends, Patterns and Characteristics

Harihar Sahoo , International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS)

The study on the homeless population in the context of India is important as it is a home of 1.7 million homeless populations. The present study attempts to explore the emerging trends, patterns and characteristics of houseless population in India and also tries to find out the factors responsible for this. Using the data from census of India, it is found that the number of houseless (per 10,000) population has decrease consistently from 36 in 1971 to 15 in 2011. The proportion is higher in urban than rural areas. Whereas economic consideration is the most important factor for houseless population, we also deduced the social factors leading to houseless population. Although various housing schemes are introduced in the country, but they have failed to addressed the issue especially in urban areas. Therefore, this call for inclusive policies and programs in order to completely erase houseless population in the near future.

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 Presented in Session 2. Children & Youth