13/09/2026
No homes, no hope: The lives of Dhaka’s ‘floating population’
Under the dim glow of a streetlight near Osmani Uddyan, 54-year-old Rafizul Haque folds a sheet of polythene over himself and his wife to prepare for "bed". His home is a small section of the footpath, and his shelter is whatever plastic he can gather during the day.
"I lost everything — my land, my house, even the river did not spare me," he says quietly. "I stayed on government land for a while, but local leaders forced me out. I had no choice but to come to Dhaka. Now, the footpath is my home."
Rafizul's story is one of many. Once a land-owning farmer in Patuakhali, he lost everything to river erosion nearly a decade ago, a fate faced by thousands across Bangladesh amid intensifying climate change.
After being evicted from temporary housing in his village and later from a slum in Mirpur when he could no longer pay the rent, he settled on the streets. By day, he collects paper to sell. By night, he builds and tears down his plastic hut, repeating the same ritual every day.
Amidst Dhaka's shiny billboards, rising overpasses, and lavish metro, a grim parallel city grows silently. This city lies beneath bridges, along train tracks, in parks, near shrines, and on the edges of footpaths — made up of thousands who drift through life without a fixed address.
Known as the "floating population," these people are rendered invisible in public policy, yet they are everywhere. According to the Population and Housing Census 2022 report, 22,185 people are homeless in Bangladesh. Estimates suggest that in Dhaka alone, between 10,000 to 15,000 homeless people live on the streets, a figure that has risen steadily in recent years.
