*SEC-S17W2- "Homeless people in my country"

I am here to partake in Season 17 of the Steemit Engagement Challenge, "Homeless People in My Country." As a traveler I have seen homeless people in almost every country, big or small, rich or poor. As you said, "Some people, for various reasons, including financial crisis, loneliness, loss of family, being lost, dementia, or substance abuse, have to leave or lose their homes."

  

“Before you ignore another homeless person on the street, just remember that that could be someone’s father or someone’s mother and they have a story.”
— Syesha Mercado

I agree that "despite all the adversities, some people in vulnerable situations struggle and manage to survive on the street," but as you have asked, I am here to answer all your questions in that order.

I would like to request my three friends @waqarahmadshah, @aviral123 and @uzma4882 to come forward and express their views on this burning topic raised by "Homeless people in my country"

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Are there homeless people in your country?

Census statistics show that 1,770,000 people are estimated to be experiencing homelessness in India. I believe that's not the true story because no government in the world would want to give true data on such an issue. I believe in a country of over 1.4 billion, we have a larger population that has no roof over their heads.

I believe the number displayed in this data is not exact, but there are a lot more homeless people in India, and there are multiple reasons behind people being homeless. And I am sorry to say that the rate at which the population is increasing and the number of homeless will increase in the coming years.

What do you think is the cause that leads these people to be on the street, homeless, and without a family?

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We have a large number of migrants from neighboring countries, namely Myanmar, Bangladesh, Nepal, Tibet, etc., that come seeking a job or other political reasons and make the open grounds their homes, complicating the limited facilities even more difficult for the locals.

Another reason I see is the unemployment in rural areas. Although our government is doing its best to provide alternative options people still come to bigger cities from various parts of the country and find their living space on footpaths and under flyovers.

But this is not the only reason; if I go deeper into the root of this universal problem, I can list other reasons. For instance-

The poverty brings them to bigger cities.
Experiences of war or violence in their area or state bring them to safer places.
A family breakdown due to multiple reasons, such as family violence.

Would you believe that a large number of children leave their homes when they face abuse or neglect in their homes and spend their lives as child laborers and sleep on the pavement?

We can see several cases of people with mental illness roaming on the roads and sleeping in public places.

Addicted people who use alcohol or drugs find their ultimate shelter in public places.

Has the government tried to create decent shelters to help these people?

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I agree that with such a large population that our country has, it's not possible to provide everyone with a government job, but people who do not want to work ultimately find their shelter under the trees, footpaths, or public places.

I also agree that the present job market cannot provide a suitable job to every job seeker, so some of them prefer to stay jobless out of frustration, and since they come to bigger cities, they can't find proper means to cover their cost of living, so they ultimately live a homeless life.

In what category of homelessness would you keep this stage of being homeless? No NGO or government's Homelessness Statistics Service gathers data for the number of people seeking support, which partly reflects this larger picture of homelessness in India.

Our metro cities, such as Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, and Chennai, have the largest percentage of people seeking homes, followed by other larger cities like state capitals based on the state's financial situation, such as Punjab and Haryana, which have large cultivations that provide a large number of employment opportunities in the agriculture sector.

And here is a picture I clicked at Sydney Railway Station a couple of years ago when I saw a homeless sitting at the main pathway.

Image mine

The NCR region, with its large number of projects, attracts a large population from around the country and also from neighboring countries. It has a high rate of people who fall into the category of homeless, even if they earn enough but not enough to buy or rent a house. So they come under the category of homeless because, when a person does not have suitable accommodation, they ought to be considered homeless.

So what they do is, since they have no place to live or access to space, they face rough sleeping, for example, in the compound of railway stations, bus stations, pavement, or even in public parks, and use either open spaces or public toilets, or use the open space under the bridges by making makeshift tents using polythene, jute sacks, or whatever they find to stay temporarily with their family members.

People that come in groups from poorer states for job search say at rented houses on a mass level or farms in the open areas, but that still keeps them in the category of homeless. In India, many people who are experiencing homelessness are sleeping in overcrowded houses. That house is unsafe for their health because it is overcrowded and has no suitable facilities for that number of residents.

What could you propose so that these people do not remain in this dark world?

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To end the undesired homelessness stage people need-

Enough income
Free from all sorts of violence and abuse, and effective support to get housing facilities at a reasonable cost.

But having said that and before I suggest any ways out of homelessness, we will have to see what causes homelessness. We all know that no one wants to be homeless by choice. It affects people with all sorts of problems. We need better structural support for people living at this stage.

I suggest our government provide employment facilities at the local level so people do not leave their home cities or states and come to the metros or bigger cities in search of jobs.

I suggest our governments should provide more houses at affordable prices to homeless people, as some of them are living in public places due to the high cost of dwelling facilities.

Our governments should identify the areas where people come for employment on a mass scale and arrange shelter homes at a reasonable price with all the facilities for a decent living.

Governments should constantly ensure that all homeless people move into adequate and affordable permanent houses. I also believe that a shelter is just an emergency solution, but the permanent solution lies in the planning where every able person gets a job in his local area, so they need no migration from their home states and come to the bigger cities in search of a job.

As far as social reasons for being homeless, that entirely depends on providing parental guidelines so people know how to keep their children in a good mindset and make them good citizens.

However, as I said in the beginning, this is a universal problem that has no permanent solution or could be eradicated, so we can try our best to reduce the reasons people leave their houses for different reasons and live a happy life.

I hope you all agree with me that homelessness is a universal problem