Sam-Haq Trust works on the interrelated issues of destitution and homelessness through a systems approach. We collaborate with government institutions and agencies to improve access to rights, services and dignity for people experiencing homelessness and destitution. Our teams in Delhi and Mumbai engage in direct community interventions as well as with institutions.

The strength of Sam-Haq Trust lies in the deep experience and long-standing commitment of its team. Though formally established as an organisation in 2024, the core team behind Sam-Haq Trust has been actively engaged on the subject of homelessness, destitution, and the criminalisation of poverty for nearly two decades. Over the years, members have worked extensively in custodial institutions established under beggary law, offering direct support, advocating for dignity and rights, and intervening in innumerable individual cases. In doing so, they have touched the lives of tens of thousands of individuals who have found themselves arrested under the beggary law merely because of their poverty or vulnerability.
 

The team has also played a critical role in examining the broader structures by conducting social audits of welfare institutions, identifying gaps and issues, and engaging with state agencies to initiate reform. The team’s work is grounded in a rehabilitative approach that challenges punitive responses to poverty and, in its place, seeks to uphold the constitutional promise of justice and equality for all.

To bring long-term change, the organisation places policy advocacy and legal reform at the centre of its work with an approach that is grounded in lived realities and is informed by empirical evidence from continued field interventions. Sam-Haq is driven by the conviction that no human being should be punished for their poverty, and that every individual is entitled to dignity, care, and the equal protection of the law.