How Pannah Gahs (shelter homes) are helping the homeless people in Lahore, Pakistan

Urban homelessness is a problem faced by both developed and developing countries due to various causes requiring contextualized responses. Governments have used temporary housing like shelter homes to combat homelessness, but providing adequate facilities and ensuring their use by the homeless remain significant challenges. This research article investigates the efficacy of shelter homes (locally known as Pannah Gahs) in Lahore. The objective is to explore the migration purposes of occupants contributing to urban homelessness, evaluate their satisfaction with shelter home facilities and understand their future migration intentions. Unstructured key informant interviews with Pannah Gah officials and semi-structured interviews of selected homeless people staying in the Panah Gahs were conducted. The finding reveals that, unlike in other developing countries, the government's compassionate approach to treating homeless people with dignity, the security measures in place, and the staff training at Pannah Gahs have encouraged the homeless to use these facilities more frequently. However, most seemingly urban homeless people are economic migrants with homes elsewhere thus exhibiting a multilocality character. Employed homeless individuals often seek their own housing, while job-seeking homeless individuals tend to stay in their current situations due to financial constraints. The study highlights policy implications, advocating for a nuanced definition of homelessness considering economic migrants and spatially split households. It emphasizes the need for government support, such as affordable housing, and stresses that successful shelter home programs require government commitment, stakeholder collaboration, and comprehensive support services to restore the dignity and self-respect of the homeless.