About us

Our Vision

We, at Shelter Action are committed to empower the migrants working menial jobs in urban India. By following a multipronged approach, we strive to address the socioeconomic hurdles in their lives. The identified barriers that come in the way of them enjoying a better quality of life include geographical movement, a higher burden of healthcare, particularly a lack of life and disability insurance; and their uncertain employment status. We wish to work at the grassroot level by acting as a platform that provides innovative solutions to the housing, social security, and employment needs to the lower end of the social scale.

The assistance initiatives of Shelter Action can be brought to life by roping in various stakeholders, and working in collaboration with them to resolve the identified obstacles. Our key actions involve planning appropriate, effective, low cost, and reproducible options to serve the needs and requirements of the affected demographic.

Our Mission

Migrant workers in the urban areas are the most vulnerable sections of society, owing to their absolute powerless state- be it economic, social, or political. In the face of a crisis, the migrant population is more likely to collapse and be pushed into destitution. Our organization wishes to solve the problems of the urban poor by reducing the employment dependence and social insecurity of the urban working poor of society.
We aspire to follow inclusive planning and policy approaches, to furnish:

Sustainable, portable, and innovative housing facilities with the basic amenities of electricity, lighting, and proper ventilation using low cost affordable material to create settlement and shelter plans for the community.
Social security for workers in the face of a life accident, and provision of disability insurance to take care and provide for their family needs.
Encourage a level playing field to promote economic independence leveraging platform technology and building cooperatives owned by the urban migrant population themselves.

The Organization intends to strengthen the unorganized urban economy, and let them take full control of their living conditions, social, and economic health by delivering solutions in real-time.

An effort by a diverse group of volunteers to deliver better housing, security and financial solutions for workers in the urban informal economy

The unorganized labour sector in urban areas of the country predominantly consists of millions of migrant workers. They occupy informal jobs that require low skill in industries, construction sites, factories, manufacturing units, transportation services, restaurants, garages, hotels, municipalities, and hospitals. Lack of a consistent and stable source of income drives them to live in impoverished states, under unhealthy working conditions with little to no job security.They are often deprived of the relevant support schemes by both the Central and State governments as well. Their lack of skills exposes them to poverty; living a life that lacks the basic amenities of electricity, sanitation, and drinking water.

Getting to know the plight of the migrants:

According to the 2011 census, the total number of internal migrants in India is pegged at 37% of the country’s population or 45.36 crore people. These figures include both inter-state as well as intra-state migrants. Most migrant workers hail from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan or Madhya Pradesh. Their lack of adequate skills, literacy and the unstable nature of their employment status are a few of the many reasons the migrant urban population lives a life of misery wrought with homelessness, poor healthcare and social and economic insecurity. They face adverse consequences at work and even in their daily lives owing to various social, and economic barriers.

The lack of a safe and secure housing facility increases the likelihood of the most vulnerable of the community to be at risk. The women of the community are paid lower wages, and are exposed to poor hygiene. They are also often subjected to physical and sexual violence. Children belonging to homeless households are at an increased risk of falling prey to begging, sexual exploitation and trafficking rackets. With no access to job security, education or proper healthcare benefits declared by the state and central governments, the LGBT people in the community face extreme gender bias which may push them into poverty and endanger their health and survival.

Aside from being underpaid and unprotected; the low skilled labour community is also under-served and lives a life of minimal support. This is, but a manifestation of the economic and social inequality deeply entrenched within our society that clearly doesn't safeguard the interests of its low skilled economy. With negligible access to healthcare facilities and the absence of social and financial security; the urban migrant population lives in absolute denial of their fundamental rights.

How Shelter Action Supports Their Cause:

In the wake of the COVID-19 Pandemic induced lockdown, the urban migrant population constituting of daily wage earners employed in construction sites, industries, factories, and service sectors were hit hard. They lost their jobs, and had no financial backup to feed their families. The ill-fated urban migrant communities, having lost their jobs, homes and source of food, were later forced to go back to their villages. While many set out on foot, some jumped on their bicycles, autos, and many hitchhiked in trucks and goods carriers to reach their native places. Harrowing visuals of apathy surfaced on national television and newspapers showing migrant workers walking hundreds of kilometres without any access to food, water or shelter or assistance from state or central governments.

Shelter Action sprung into existence post the emergence of this urban migrant crisis. It is a social enterprise aspiring to empower urban migrant communities. We strive to follow an inclusive approach and help provide housing solutions, disability insurance and employment security to the urban migrant population. We are a group of dedicated and evolving individuals from diverse backgrounds driven by a common purpose: providing better living conditions, social security and job security to the urban poor.

Our Aspirations:

At Shelter Action, we pledge to break down every barrier and ensure to provide for the fundamental needs of the low income migrant population in the society. We wish to extend our contribution towards this humanitarian cause in the form of a durable and protective habitat; insurance access in the event of an accident, death or disability; and making them owners through platform cooperatives.

We intend to create a better future for urban migrant workers by leading efforts to:

Provide low cost and subsidized housing facilities to migrant labourers in urban areas.
Ensure proper hygiene facilities, access to water, sanitation and electricity to the migrant communities in urban areas.
Extend better-living conditions, a safe and secure environment for men, women, children and LGBT individuals without any bias.
Pledge compensation policy to labourers in the event of an accident or injury to help provide for the needs of their family.
Empower urban migrant communities by introducing worker owned cooperatives.

Legality:

Shelter Action Foundation is registered in Bangalore, Karnataka as a Charitable Trust . Regn Num BNS- 00134 2020-21