The United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (UNCHS Habitat), pointed out that since home signifies

not only personal space but also an environment that includes family and friends, terms like houseless, shelterless and dwellingless might define the situation more aptly.2 It therefore defines the homeless as people sleeping rough, on the street, in public places or in any other place not meant for human habitation. It also identifies less visible types of homeless i.e. those sleeping in shelters provided by welfare or other institutions. In the Compendium of Human Settlement Statistics, the expression Homeless household refers to households without a shelter that would fall within the scope of living quarters. They carry their few possessions with them sleeping in the streets, in doorways or on piers, or in any other space, on a more or less random basis.3 The Census of India defines the notion of houseless population as people who are not living in census houses. The latter refers to a structure with roof, hence the enumerators are instructed to take note of the possible places where the houseless population is likely to live, such as on the roadside, pavements, drainage pipes, under staircase, or in the open, temple mandaps, platforms and the like. It also includes people living in temporary tenements The UN Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing, while recognising the wide range of definitions of homelessness, for the purpose of his report, focused on homelessness as the lack of even the most basic shelter.4 He further pointed out that a narrow definition of homelessness should not in any way be confused with the broader issue of inadequate and insecure housing and shelter in distressed conditions. This report uses the more specific definition of homelessness, one that encompasses all those people living without basic shelter on the streets, under flyovers and bridges, in public parks and other common spaces that pose a significant threat to their privacy, health, personal security and safety. Amongst the urban poor, the homeless form the bottom of the pyramid deprived of even the most basic of human needs: shelter.

sleeping on the roadside pavements, on dividers, above hand carts, at

staircases of religious places, under the bastion of closed shops, beneath over bridges, at railway platforms, on seaside sands and so on.
The Census of India defines houseless people as the persons who are not living in census houses. The latter refers to a structure with roof, hence the enumerators are instructed by Census officials to take note of the possible places where the houseless population is likely to live, such as on the roadside, pavements, drainage pipes, under staircases, or in the open, temple-mandaps, platforms and the like (Census of India, 1991: 64). This part of the population includes those sleeping without shelter, in constructions not meant for habitation and in welfare institutions (United Nations 1999).