The Homeless—How Serious a Problem?
AROUND the world, millions of people live in what is commonly called substandard quarters. According to a UN publication entitled Building for the Homeless, in developing nations “up to 50 per cent—in some cities nearly 80 per cent—of the urban population lives in slums and squatter settlements,” without adequate water, lighting, sanitation, and waste disposal. What is life like in such places? Awake! correspondents make the following on-the-scene reports.
Bombay, India—The sweltering summer heat in central Bombay is intense. Under a sprawling banyan tree, a man, a woman, and a baby lie sleeping on the sidewalk. Some meager bedding, a few cooking utensils, and the ashes of a small fire indicate they have staked their claim to the spot as a temporary home. There is no place else for them. Shoppers and businesspeople pass by, seemingly oblivious of the family. After all, there are tens of thousands like them in the city. In a country where the estimated housing shortage is 24.7 million dwelling units, people without homes are a common sight.
Nearby, in vacant lots and along highways and railroad tracks, crude tents have sprouted. Used gunnysacks and old rags are layered and shaped into shelters for countless numbers of people dubbed squatters. If such shelters are not cleared away by the authorities, cramped, windowless huts made of scavenged materials will appear. Those living there engage in a daily search for water. Railroad tracks and rubbish dumps become open toilets. Almost enviable by comparison are the “permanent” structures in established slums, where at least a few water taps and latrines can be found.
Johannesburg, South Africa—For the white South African, housing is not a big problem, provided one can afford the ever-rising cost. However, according to the government’s official yearbook South Africa 1986, “South Africa is at present experiencing an extensive backlog in the supply of Black housing, especially in the urban areas.” With thousands of people on waiting lists for houses, three families must sometimes stay in a four-room house or one family of three or four in one room. When a son gets married, he gets on the waiting list, hoping that in two or three years something may become available. Meanwhile, the newlyweds either share the room with the parents or build a shack with corrugated iron in the backyard—if there is one.
In some areas, owners build such shanties and ask for exorbitant rents. City councils allow it because they cannot cope with the demand for houses. This creates slums and breeds crime and disease. The radio reported that 136 babies out of every 1,000 die because of being born under such unhygienic conditions—no running water, perhaps one toilet for four or five families. Older children too are affected. They learn to steal and take drugs at an early age. Drinking is common among the youth.
Shanghai, China—For this most populous city of the most populous nation in the world, trying to find adequate housing for its more than 12 million inhabitants is a formidable challenge. Although the government is doing what it can to construct new housing units, the majority of the people still live in small homes, built in the ’30’s and ’40’s, that look like toy houses. They are crammed into large city blocks, accessible only by what the Shanghainese call alleys. Many of these houses are without running water, inside kitchen, or toilet, and they are unheated, even though winter temperatures may fall below the freezing point. Larger buildings in former French and British zones are usually divided up with one family to a room, all sharing a common kitchen and bath. Often, three generations live together in such a room.
Better housing for the people is high among the city officials’ priorities. At present, it is estimated that each person has only anywhere from 43 to 58 square feet [4 to 5.4 sq m] of living space. This is below the national goal of 64 square feet [5.9 sq m] per person. Reports show that in Shanghai 6,000 new apartments were built in 1985, and as much as $135 million (U.S.) was spent in 1986 on construction. Still, more than a hundred thousand people are on the official waiting list for new homes, and there is no way of telling how many others are looking for a place to call their own.
São Paulo, Brazil—Shantytowns have sprung up everywhere in this city. Out of desperation, the homeless invade private properties and vacant lots and put up precarious tin huts and lean-tos, sometimes right next to stately homes and modern apartment buildings. Many traditional family homes have been converted into makeshift, one-room tenements, often with just one bathroom for more than 50 people.
Things took an ugly turn last April when the military police were mobilized to evict illegal squatters in a suburb of São Paulo. According to the newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo, elderly people were beaten, women were dragged out by their hair, and children were knocked down. Many suffered respiratory problems from the tear-gas bombs thrown into their shacks.
Anyone who has not experienced the misery, deprivation, and desperation of life in the slums, squatter areas, and shantytowns (or whatever one chooses to call them) would find it difficult to imagine such conditions. Yet, for hundreds of millions of people, they are the realities of everyday existence.