Night shelters for homeless families to come up near Marina by Christmas

Chennai: Semi-nomadic families, including Narikuravas, who often take refuge beneath statues along Marina Beach, are set to get a night shelter built by Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) next to the Anna Swimming Pool at Navalar Nagar in Triplicane. The shelter is expected to be ready by Dec 25.Built at a cost of 86 lakh, the 2,100 sqft shelter can accommodate 80 people. It will have fans, RO drinking water facilities, toilets, mattresses, and a children's playground. It is among the few shelters in Chennai designed to accommodate all genders and age groups, instead of catering to a single target group. "With the upcoming months being colder, we decided to build a night shelter. In the mornings, they do not need such a shelter as they usually move around the city selling the beads or accessories they make," said GCC Commissioner J Kumaragurubaran.Overall maintenance and hygiene will be handled by a Tiruvallur-based NGO. "We also plan to provide food through a tie-up with one of the cloud kitchens that cater to GCC schools, by early next year," the commissioner said.While this shelter will initially house the nomadic community, the civic body plans to build another shelter for the rest of the homeless population living along the beach. GCC surveyed 215 homeless people along the Marina over the past few months, of whom 95 were individuals living alone and 120 were part of families. "Our survey identified three categories of homeless people here: gypsies, beach stall workers, and those who work elsewhere but sleep on the beach. We are planning a bigger shelter that can accommodate all the homeless living along the beach," said P Banukumar, zonal officer of Teynampet.The decision to locate the shelter close to the beach was also guided by a joint survey conducted by the Madras School of Social Work (MSSW) and GCC between Jan and April this year, which identified around 13,529 homeless individuals across 2,837 locations in Chennai. One of the key recommendations was to build shelters within 2–3 km of where homeless people stay. "Many of them earn a living by selling things they make. Building shelters close to their work locations helps them sustain their livelihoods," said MSSW Professor M Antony Stephen. TOI met a beneficiary at a GCC shelter for destitute elderly women in Royapettah, who travels nearly 20km to a temple in Thiruverkadu to sell flower garlands she makes, as she could not find a shelter closer to her workplace.

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