Dearth of shelter homes a hurdle in shifting homeless to safe places in Vijayawada

The Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) has identified 395 homeless people in the city following a direction by Andhra Pradesh High Court Chief Justice Dhiraj Singh Thakur to find and shift such individuals to shelter homes.

However, there is one major challenge: Vijayawada has only four shelter homes — three having a capacity of 100 each and one having a capacity of 50; all of them are full now. “We don’t have additional shelters to accommodate more homeless people,” said Project Officer, Urban Community Development, VMC, P. Venkata Narayana.

Funds to establish shelter homes come from the Union government under the National Urban Livelihoods Mission (NULM). In March, 2025, the corporation submitted a proposal for four additional shelter homes, with a capacity of 100 each, and it was approved by the VMC council in May. The corporation has to send a Detailed Project Report (DPR) to the Centre to receive the funds, Mr. Venkata Narayana added.

While the city needs more shelter homes, it also needs a bigger rehabilitation centre. “During the drive, we found that many are alcoholics and people addicted to drugs and prone to violence, who can’t be shifted to shelter homes as they might become a nuisance to the inmates here. Though there is a rehabilitation centre at the Government General Hospital, it can only accommodate 15-20 people. The city doesn’t have a bigger rehabilitation or a mental healthcare centre,” Mr. Venkata Narayana said.

R. Adinarayana, State Mission Manager of Mission for Elimination of Poverty in Municipal Areas (MEPMA), said some people return from second shows of movies and sleep on the footpaths under the influence of alcohol. He said they have identified such people and asked them to quit the habit.

Most of the homeless people, around 110-140 of them, were found on the BRTS Road and Sitara Centre, he added. However, the official said they have not received any complaints from the public.

Though the drive is over, the MEPMA official said a three-member team, comprising a policeman, a VMC/MEPMA official and an NGO member, would be formed to continue the survey for another 15 days. “We believe the number of the homeless in the city will go beyond 450,” he said, adding that by January 5, they will get a complete number about the homeless in the city.