Amir Salehi

Amir Salehi

Homeless Shelter in Tehran

The figure of 15,000 homeless people in the capital is so significant that it cannot be overlooked. According to the Deputy Head of the Anti-Narcotics Force, Tehran’s number of homeless people is at the top. Apart from the homeless, some of whom are chronically mentally ill or people who have abandoned home for any reason and never returned, a large number of this population is addicted to drugs. Many of these are counted as high-risk addicts due to long-term drug abuse as well as illnesses such as AIDS and hepatitis. During the winter, about a thousand homeless are collected from the city on a daily basis, and these people are transferred to homeless care centers, or “shelters” and “warm-houses.” In the last decade, the establishment of these places in Tehran has been a way to support this vulnerable group of society and provide a basis for empowerment and assistance to the poor and homeless. Although, during these years, Tehran Municipality has provided conditions for the construction of shelters so that the homeless can eat at least one meal a day and take a bath, this is not the only measurement that the responsible organizations can do to improve the living conditions of these people. A look at the current situation of shelters, which are often crowded in the hours close to sunset and are filled with more than the capacity and number of beds, shows that the current capacity of Tehran shelters is far less than the actual number of homeless people. This collection narrates the story of a number of homeless people going to the Khavaran shelter in Tehran.