Homeless people from streets of Bengaluru refuse night shelters, claim they are 'poorly maintained'

Invisible on Bengaluru’s many crowded pavements, the homeless sleep in the numbing winter chill, enduring hunger, fear, and neglect, devoid of shelter, dignity, and security. Gandhinagar, K R Market, Yashwanthpur, and other areas that are transit and commercial hubs see most of them.

Individuals and non-governmental organisations donate blankets and food to such people from time to time. Suroj Ali, a member of a non-governmental organisation (NGO), Humanity is Religion, says his NGO has donated more than 500 blankets in Bengaluru.

“These are daily wagers and migrant labourers who come to the city. There are also drunk people sleeping on the pavements. They do cover themselves as much as possible, but this biting cold can cause illness easily for anyone,” he shares.

Most homeless people demand cleaner and safer shelter homes.

There are night shelters for the homeless in the city, but the system has failed to take care of the situation.

In December 2022, DH visited night shelters for the homeless in the city to bring out the problems in night shelters and the homelessness prevailing in the city. Three years later, today, nothing has changed. Night shelters have only gotten worse, while the homeless still sleep on pavements.

When asked why people still sleep on pavements when the night shelters are never full to their capacity, a source said: “People refuse to get inside the shelters. They say they get free food and blankets on pavements, they are free to beg, and stay unclean. In night shelters, we can provide only one-time food, and we do not want them to beg. We ask them to be clean. Some don’t like it.”

There is always another side to any story. Lingappa, 62, a homeless person, said, “I don’t like shelterhomes, they are poorly maintained, and I cannot afford them either.” Sources say shelter home caretakers solicit payments from those who can afford them, even though it is technically free.

Lingappa keeps changing places from time to time, and it has only gotten hard to find a place to sleep. “I have been living on the streets of Bengaluru for several years, ever since I was shunted from the house for running into debt.” 

Most homeless people demand cleaner and safer shelter homes. “If I have to choose to sleep on the road rather than having a roof over my head, that’s because of the poor condition and maintenance,” said Kumara (name changed). He was stabbed in one of the shelter homes during a brawl that broke out while he was asleep, and has vowed never to return to any shelter homes.

The fast-changing landscape and development work have added to the burden for the homeless. “I used to sleep near Cantonment railway station, but due to ongoing construction work, I have moved to a location near the city railway station,” said Nersappa, 54. Here, too, he says that security personnel evict homeless people frequently. 

Fund trapped in bureaucratic hurdles

The Greater Bengaluru Authority area has been sanctioned 74 night shelters, but only 48 are established and operational. They, too, have been experiencing infrastructure issues. 

An appeal by the Impact India Consortium, a collective of shelter management agencies (SMAs - the nongovernmental organisations that run night shelters for homeless in Bengaluru), explains this in graphic detail: old, unusable beds; bed bug infestations; a foul stench; CCTV cameras and smart attendance machines that often require repair; and a lack of budget to fix toilets, bathrooms, and water pumps. 

It states that a shelter home requires at least Rs 15,85,967 per year to operate effectively, yet sources indicate that most SMAs have been operating shelter homes without any funding for two years. 

Each night shelter is majorly funded by the National Urban Livelihoods Mission (NULM) for the first five years, after which the local corporation takes over. But in Bengaluru, it has not happened.

In Bengaluru, six shelters that have completed five years will be taken up by corporations, while the remaining shelters will continue to be funded by NULM. Documents accessed by DH show that, as of November 2025, within the GBA limits, NULM owed Rs 8.55 crore in Operation and Maintenance costs. 

S S Rajani S S, a consultant who works on homelessness, says that NULM is implementing a pilot project and a revision of standard operating procedure. The NULM had asked ULBs to release funds from their budgets, with reimbursement promised, in an official letter. But BBMP/GBA has not released any funds.

Hence, funds are not released to ULBs for this programme. However, the erstwhile BBMP had reserved a budget of four crores for 2024-25, from which funds could have been released but were not.

“The state-level Independent Impartial Committee has directed all ULBs to release funds. In a meeting two months ago, GBA officials promised to release money to the corporations, but no one knows if that has been released or not,” she adds.

“The shelters are in poor condition. Each shelter has four staff. Forty-seven shelters, each with four staff, are struggling. The elderly and sick residents of shelters are not getting food due to a lack of budget,” she adds.

“Deaths of the homeless would be high during the cold seasons. However, the number of shelters has not increased, nor has the quality been maintained. The homeless also hesitate to come because of the poor conditions,” she explains.

“We have recommended solar panels for water heating. But BBMP did not care. There are sick and senior citizens who could have benefited from this facility,” she explains.

Another problem is the lack of transparency. “RTI rules are not followed. Neither the NULM nor the BBMP websites address funding status, night shelter locations, inmate data, facility information, shelter status, or related matters. This is a violation of RTI,” Rajani adds.

‘Problems will be sorted soon’

Suralkar Vikas Kishor, IAS, Special Commissioner (Education & Welfare), GBA, explains that if NULM funding is delayed, corporations are expected to cover the costs, which will later be reimbursed from the NULM budget. 

“These NGOs are equally responsible for the delay. When their work order lapsed, they were supposed to report to the corporations and ensure that the tenders got a proper extension from the competent authorities. In the absence of this documentation, the funding has been delayed. It will be disbursed soon,” he assured.

He says this problem is not universal, and not all NGOs running night shelters face it. “There have been documentation issues only in a few cases; those have to be settled,” he adds. In GBA limits, only the West zone has released grants to shelter management agencies (SMAs).

He explains why NGOs face funding issues. “The NGOs that participate in the tendering process end up quoting very low rates. When we ask why, they claim they also raise funds through CSR initiatives. They do not run the shelters based on our funds,” he adds.

However, a representative from one of the NGOs told DH that not all NGOs are eligible for CSR funding and that the government cannot assume that every NGO receives it.

“Because of this, we have been running without a salary for two years. Supporting staff cannot resign, as doing so would prevent them from receiving the pending amount,” he explained. Because the funds have been stalled, managers are unable to run the shelters effectively, he adds.