Understanding the Psycho-Social and Health Problems Faced by Homeless Population in Visakhapatnam City: An Empirical Study

Homelessness is one of the major problems in India and other developing countries. There are 1.8 million homeless people living in India. Most of the time the homeless population live and sleeps on the streets, in parks, at railway stations, bus stations, places of worship, outside businesses and workplaces, at construction sites, under bridges, in Hume pipes, and in other areas that are unsuited for human habitation. The government of India is implementing many welfare schemes to remove the problem of homelessness. This study was conducted in Visakhapatnam city. This is a quantitative study that adopted a descriptive research design. The data was collected from 30 homeless people living on the streets. The study found that the homeless people living on the streets are facing many psycho-social, protection and health problems. Due to poverty, the homeless people do not give more importance to their health and safety. They have bad habits like consuming alcohol (43.3%), smoking (40%), drugs (20%) and Ganja (6.6%). They are not in a position to access the government schemes due to a lack of identity cards. It is high time issues of the homeless are addressed as serious as any other vulnerable groups. The government and NGOs should initiate the new welfare schemes to rescue and restore them to their families. Homeless people should learn vocational education and new livelihood skills to continue their life with dignity.