CHENNAI: With around 692 families identified as homeless in the Harbour constituency under the Royapuram zone, and chosen for housing by the Tamil Nadu Urban Habitat Development Board (TNUHDB), the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) has decided to bear one-third of the beneficiary cost for these families. The civic body has decided to contribute Rs 11.55 crore for this purpose.
In 2025, the city corporation, in collaboration with the Madras School of Social Work, conducted a city-wide homelessness survey, which revealed that around 51% of the total homeless population (13,529) were part of family units. It was also found that, of the homeless families identified across the city, nearly 57.8% were from the Royapuram zone, with 1,435 families requiring housing under tenement schemes, the report said.
As part of its housing initiative for the urban homeless, GCC through the TNUHDB department has enumerated around 692 homeless families in parts 13 and 14 of Royapuram zone.
According to corporation officials, these pavement dwellers have been living for years along roadsides, often in temporary structures without proper shelter, leaving them highly vulnerable. Most of the identified families are street vendors and daily wage earners.
Following discussions with TNUHDB, the families have been proposed to be rehabilitated under the TNUHDB’s Stanley Hospital-Seven Wells housing project, located nearby. However, the beneficiary contribution fixed by TNUHDB is Rs 5 lakh per tenement per family, an amount that most of the families are unable to afford.
To ease the financial burden, the city corporation facilitated loan assistance for the beneficiaries. Considering the long-standing socio-economic vulnerability of pavement dwellers here, the corporation has also proposed to relax the payment structure.
Under the revised plan, beneficiaries will be required to contribute Rs 3.33 lakh, payable in monthly instalments of Rs 1,000 over 333 months (nearly 28 years). The remaining Rs 1.67 lakh per family will be paid by the civic body as the beneficiaries’ share to TNUHDB. For 692 families, this amounts to a total contribution of Rs 11.55 crore.
Speaking to TNIE, a corporation official said that the lack of housing for the homeless has been a long-standing issue in the zone, with pavement dwellers facing severe hardship during every northeast monsoon. The official added that most of the homeless families possess valid identity documents but remain without shelter due to various reasons. “Through this initiative, they will finally have a roof over their heads,” he said.
Vanessa Peter, founder of IRCDUC, a community-centric information and resource hub for deprived urban communities, told TNIE that it had been observed that certain families were left out of the enumeration process. She stressed that concerted efforts must be made to identify and include all excluded families to ensure a comprehensive and inclusive rehabilitation process.
She also noted that the resettlement and rehabilitation framework prescribed by TNUHDB must be strictly followed throughout the resettlement process.