The increase in "homelessness" in Iran and the emergence of the phenomenon of "slumbering" in Isfahan

With the intensification of financial crises and economic instability in Iran, phenomena such as sleeping in graves, sleeping in cardboard boxes, and sleeping on buses have become more prevalent; phenomena that, along with denial or lack of attention, have gone beyond cases such as "sleeping in cardboard boxes" and expanded to problems such as "sleeping in bran."

In recent days, videos and images have been published on social media showing some citizens, individually or as families, settling near construction waste or municipal waste storage sites and living in unsafe and unsanitary conditions.

Hossein Yazdi, the managing director and franchise owner of the Mobin24 news website, wrote regarding the phenomenon of "sleeping in the barn" in the Shafaq Boulevard area of ​​Isfahan: "The emergence of this phenomenon in Isfahan is extremely sad, because the people of Isfahan and the charities of this city are careful not to let these incidents happen, but the violence has increased so much that today we are witnessing it in Isfahan as well."

These days, "expensive living" has become so high that some citizens are even forced to rent shelters such as rooftops, camping tents, or sleeping in worn-out cars to reduce some of the heavy living expenses for themselves or their families.

Abbas Akhundi, the Minister of Roads and Urban Development in the Hassan Rouhani administration, had declared in March 2016, by applying the term "homeless" to those who lack proper, safe, or reliable shelter, that their population in the marginal and dilapidated areas of Iran was 19 million, and said: "Not even five percent of them (less than 950,000 people) have been transferred to Mehr housing."

With rising house prices, astronomical increases in rents, and the rapid acceleration of inflation in society, providing shelter and "a place to sleep" is a serious concern for many middle- or low-income groups in Iran these days, to the point that even some families who previously lived in rented houses have now turned to "shared house rentals in Tehran" and multiple families living in one residential unit.

Ali Chegni, then Secretary General of the Housing Planning and Economics Office of the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development, also told IRNA in April 2019: "Despite the fact that some housing indicators show a growing trend, about one-third of the country's urban population faces the phenomenon of "homelessness" and lives in unsuitable shelters, in dilapidated neighborhoods, on the outskirts of cities, and in informal settlements."