About 15 years ago, families living on the streets near Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium were moved to a shelter right behind a public toilet in Kannaparthidal in Choolai.
The moment they arrived at the facility, residents frantically rushed in to dump their belongings to claim the best spots inside. The ones who couldn’t find a place had to make do with either the terrace or the empty plot of land in front of the building, recalled F. Yashoda a 60-year-old resident.
“We didn’t make a big deal out of it then as we were assured by the authorities that we would be moved to a better facility within three months time. It has been 15 years now,” said Yashoda, as she fanned the flames from a wood stove in her dingy cubicle, which she and her two children share with three families. They maintain a semblance of privacy by dividing the cubicles with cardboard sheets, dhotis and sarees.
Around 60 families live this way in the two-storeyed building. Almost half of the space each family has is taken up by their possessions, including pots and pans, worn out couches and television sets. One corner of each room is used as a bathroom and also to cook and wash utensils. Those living on the terrace and outside the building have set up their own similar one-room shanties.
“Honestly, those outside live better than us. At least, they get to breathe,” said Bhavani, while coughing badly due to the fumes from the stove.
In 2013, the Greater Chennai Corporation handed over the responsibility of maintaining the shelter to Karunalaya Centre for Street and Working Children. However, their contract was terminated a year later and the centre now only looks after children in the building.
“The home does not come under our purview any more,” said a Corporation official. “We took a survey there last year and asked people if they were willing to go to any of the resettlement colonies. But they refused and demanded a home in the city,” the official added.
Residents said moving to the resettlement colonies on the outskirts of the city would affect their livelihood. “We were brought here by officials and it is their responsibility to provide us better housing. Our living conditions have only worsened over the years with our families growing,” said S. Shanmugham, a daily wage labourer, who with his wife and three young daughters, shares a cubicle with two families.
No one’s problem
“With nobody taking responsibility for their living conditions, the home has become no one’s problem,” said Vanessa Peter, policy researcher, Information and Resource Centre for the Deprived Urban Communities (IRCDUC).
Comparing it to the Ritchie Street Home for Homeless Cooperative Housing Society, whose residents currently foresee eviction due to a debt of ₹70 lakh to Housing and Urban Development Corporation Limited (HUDCO), Ms. Vanessa pointed out that both these models of housing provided by the State are failures.
“We do not even have a State housing policy or any guidelines which would ensure affordable housing for the homeless. Shelters such as these violate the rights of the homeless,” she said.
