NEW DELHI: Proactive support from different government departments and sustainable policy decisions are needed to help the urban homeless who are mentally ill, points out the Centre for Equity Studies’ India Exclusion Report 2017-2018.

The report analyses the challenges of homeless people with psychosocial disabilities through a range of anecdotal examples in which the mentally ill have been unable to access care facilities, have lost their homes, have no acceptance among family members, and have no social inclusion.

“Currently, there is no taskforce which sets out to locate the homeless who are mentally ill. There is also little coordination among the different government departments, and they do not know who they are dealing with,” said Sarbani Dasroy, one of the co-authors of the report and co-founder of NGO Iswar Sankalpa, which reaches out to the mentally ill who are homeless in Kolkata.

Housing is one of the most critical factors for the urban homeless with mental illnesses. In such a situation, family homes may not be the safest option, the authors point out. “Not every person needs to be institutionalised. Some people are cared for within the community... So in these cases, a community care model can be sustainable,” he said.