Three Thousand Homeless Women in Tehran

On Friday, November 30, the head of the Health and Environment Commission of Tehran City Council announced that there are over three thousand homeless women wandering in the capital of Iran. According to Tasnim News Agency, Rahmatollah Hafezi also reported that preparations are underway to establish the first women's shelter in Tehran and called for cooperation from parliament representatives to resolve legal issues surrounding it. He noted that there are approximately 15,000 homeless individuals in Tehran, adding that currently, all shelters in the city are set up for men, while homeless women, especially in the cold season, are significantly more vulnerable than men. The number of homeless women in Tehran was announced at a time when, according to the Alef website, affiliated with Ahmad Tavakoli, a member of parliament, Reza Jahangiri, the deputy for social services of the Tehran Municipality's Welfare and Social Participation Organization, stated last November that 'the average age of homeless women in the city has decreased to 17 and 18 years.' The site reported that addiction and its increase among women are significant factors in the spread of female homelessness. Meanwhile, the head of the Health and Environment Commission of Tehran City Council identified the lack of legal status for shelters as one of the existing problems in maintaining homeless individuals. He added, 'If something unfortunate happens to one of these homeless individuals in these shelters, no one is accountable, and the prosecutor has the right to hold the district mayor accountable due to the lack of legal status for these places and the maintenance of these individuals without authorization, and city officials will be questioned in these cases.' Mr. Hafezi emphasized the need for cooperation between the legislative and judicial branches to provide the necessary legal infrastructure on this issue. Previously, according to news agencies, the mayor of Tehran announced on October 19 that the capital of Iran has about 15,000 homeless individuals, stating, 'The municipality has promised the people that it will provide a shelter to gather these individuals and has kept its promise until today so that we do not witness an increase in their numbers.' Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf referred to homelessness as one of the 'petty crimes' and added that 'the government cannot address such petty crimes due to its workload; therefore, the municipality must take action in this regard and resolve the issue.' The efforts of the Tehran municipality to resolve the legal status of shelters come at a time when Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli, the Minister of Interior and Secretary-General of the Anti-Drug Headquarters, announced on October 30 the construction of a 10,000-person camp in Tehran province for homeless addicts. According to the state-run IRNA news agency, he stated that 'this 10,000-person camp will be built in the Fashafouyeh area of Tehran province within six months.' Socially vulnerable individuals are flowing into Tehran. Tehran is facing a large number of homeless individuals and homeless addicts, which Mohammad Ali Irfanmanesh, the director general of social and cultural affairs of Tehran province, stated in August of this year to the Shabestan website that Tehran bears the responsibility for the social victims of other provinces in Iran. He added, 'It was supposed that provinces, whose social victims flow into Tehran in the form of beggars, child laborers, children of divorce, and other factors, would provide the necessary infrastructure for their maintenance.' He pointed out, 'We in Tehran provide the necessary facilities for the return of social victims to their provinces, and the necessary costs (transportation) are paid by the relevant agencies, but since the necessary infrastructure is not provided there or there is no attention to this issue, they immediately return to Tehran.' Nevertheless, according to this official from the Tehran governorate, the plan for organizing social victims has not yet been approved by the Ministry of Interior.