NEW DELHI: If numbers could keep people warm, Delhi’s homeless crisis would long be solved. On paper, the city is prepared: 322 night shelters with nearly 20,000 beds (19,724 to be precise).The official list, which gives capacity and occupancy in each shelter and is available on Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board website, reads like a safety net – 540 people can be accommodated in one, 280 in another and hundreds more in dozens of locations across the city. Enough, one would assume, to ensure no one sleeps out in the cold.Step inside, and the math collapses.The Commercial Building in Motia Khan is supposed to have enough space and beds to sleep 540 people. In reality, 15 beds were available Tuesday, less than 3% of the claim. Simply put, if the shelter were suddenly full, each bed would have to hold 36 people to meet its stated capacity.
The staff admitted that the space could accommodate a few more mattresses, but housing over 500 people was clearly impossible. On the Dusib list, the code allotted to the Motia Khan shelter is 028. “This is the only shelter with that code. This is the space we have,” said the person on duty with an expression reflecting the impossibility of meeting the listed capacity.The mismatch was repeated elsewhere. Chabi Ganj, Ward-I community hall, listed for 100, had 38 beds (around 22 in one room and 16 in the other), while the Chabi Ganj Community Center above it, claiming 280, was functioning at just 6%, with 18 beds. At Yamuna Bazar, listed for 50, only 19 beds were ready (38%). Even Mori Gate’s Gole Chakkar, with a listed capacity of 50, had just 18 beds. Majnu ka Tilla told a similar story: the 100-capacity community hall had 20 beds (20%), the first-floor shelter listed at 50 had 18-20 beds, and another 50-capacity facility offered only 15 beds. While some rooms could theoretically hold the full capacity, there were neither enough beds nor mattresses.Only the tents, which boasted a capacity of 20, reportedly had the same number of beds in them.TOI’s ground check, along with conversations with shelter staff, suggests that this is not a problem that has emerged recently. During winters, the capacity has hovered around 19,000-20,000 beds for the past two-three years, and the disparity between listed capacity and actual availability persisted over time, highlighting continuing apathy. Across shelters, one thing was clear: capacity on paper is overstated, leaving thousands of homeless with fewer real options than figures suggest.When the mismatch was flagged to senior government officials, they promised action. A senior Dusib official said, “We will definitely check if there is any discrepancy. There is also a concept of ‘bedded’ and ‘non-bedded’ capacity – when beds are installed, the usable capacity decreases, while non-bedded areas can accommodate more people.”“In the case of Motia Khan, several people were shifted into the building following a court order, which is why they are reflected in the capacity figures. At other shelters, there were no beds before Covid, and beds were added later. An audit is also being planned, as many available beds are unused. In any case, no one will be sent back to sleep on road.”However, there was no explanation for why capacity has been projected so much higher than actual, usable arrangements. If beds are not in place, why are the numbers boosted. Should capacity not reflect the real, ready-to-occupy situation on the ground? But there was no answer.However, even considering bedded and non-bedded capacity, in several shelters, the physical space itself cannot hold 100-200 people, while in others, space exists, but there are neither beds nor mattresses.The actual occupancy, however, generally aligned with the number of beds physically available in most shelters. For example, a shelter in Nizamuddin Basti, which has a listed capacity of 300, had 95 residents on Jan 13. When checked on the ground, it was found to have 91 beds on Tuesday – a much more realistic figure.At Mori Gate, staff said that when the shelter reached its limit, residents were redirected to nearby facilities, even after combining beds in a “2-in-1” setup. This shows that the issue is not low demand, but a gap between the listed capacity and what actually exists on the ground.Shelter capacity is meant to reflect beds that exist, are usable, and ready that night – not theoretical numbers parked in government files. Experts say that when Delhi claims 19,724 beds but can provide only 6,500-7,000 on the ground, officials need to be held accountable. Even on the coldest winter nights, thousands of homeless people are seen sleeping on road dividers, footpaths and open plazas.Activist Sunil Kumar Aledia, who works with homeless people and construction workers, observed a similar problem of capacity mismatch a few days ago. He said, “The alarming mismatch between the declared capacity of shelter homes, reflected in the DUSIB live occupancy report, and the actual beds available on the ground points to systemic misreporting and serious neglect of basic infrastructure. Based on actual availability, Delhi can provide sleeping arrangements for only 6,500 to 7,000 people, which is grossly inadequate for a city of this size.“He called for an independent physical audit of all Dusib shelters, beds, mattresses, and basic facilities to be provided according to declared capacity, correction of misleading data on the Dusib website, revision of winter action plans, and public disclosure of actions taken to ensure transparency and accountability.Indu Prakash Singh, a member of the state level shelter monitoring committee, said, “I raised this issue in the last meeting. Shelters are running far below their listed capacity, yet the department is simply misreporting the numbers. Where have the beds actually gone? Forget future arrivals – even today, every mattress that exists should be on the ground. The message is clear: we need accurate figures and a real focus on improving conditions.“Even if Delhi had the capacity to house nearly 20,000 homeless, it would still fail to provide shelter to everyone. The internationally accepted figure for homelessness sits at 1% of a city’s population. That it manages to house only around 7,000 shows how stark the situation on the ground is.
