Sakhi Niwas (Working Women Hostel)

What is Sakhi Niwas?

Sakhi Niwas is the working women hostel scheme of the Ministry of Women and Child Development, run as a component of the Samarthya sub-scheme of Mission Shakti. Sakhi Niwas provides safe and conveniently located accommodation to working women in urban, semi-urban and rural areas where employment opportunities for women exist.

According to the Ministry of Women and Child Development, Sakhi Niwas is a demand-driven centrally sponsored scheme, funds are released directly to states and union territories, which then set up and run hostels, including in rented premises. Because it is demand-driven, a hostel exists in a district only where the state government has proposed one and it has been sanctioned.

What Sakhi Niwas is meant to solve

• A woman who takes a job away from home often cannot find accommodation she can both afford and be safe in, and that alone forces some women to refuse work.
• Women in training for a job have no income yet and are the least able to pay market rent.
• A working mother needs childcare during her shift, not only a room.

Main features

• Accommodation for working women, single or with children.
• A day care centre for residents' children is an integral part of the scheme, not an optional add-on.
• Hostels operate from rented premises with central financial assistance for the rent and running costs.
• Income-tested admission, so places go to lower-earning women.

Who is eligible for Sakhi Niwas?

A woman can apply if:

• She is employed, or is undergoing training for a job; trainees are explicitly covered.
• Her gross monthly income is up to Rs 50,000 in a metropolitan city, or up to Rs 35,000 in any other place. The District Magistrate may relax these limits in the light of local conditions.
• She is single, widowed, divorced or separated; or
• She is married but her husband or immediate family does not reside in the same area. The scheme is for women living away from family for work.

Children may stay with a resident mother: girls up to 18 years and boys up to 12 years.

Who cannot apply / is not eligible

• Women who are neither employed nor in job training. Sakhi Niwas is not a general women's hostel or a student hostel.
• Women earning above the ceiling, above Rs 50,000 a month in metropolitan cities or Rs 35,000 elsewhere, unless the District Magistrate has relaxed the limit locally.
• Married women whose husband or immediate family lives in the same area. The purpose is accommodation for women away from their family base.
• Boys above 12 years of age cannot stay with a resident mother, and men cannot be residents.
• Women in distress needing rescue or rehabilitation should not be routed here. Their scheme is Shakti Sadan, which is free, has no income test and provides legal and medical support.

A serving resident whose income later rises above the ceiling must vacate within six months of crossing it.

What documents are required for Sakhi Niwas?

How to apply for Sakhi Niwas

Sakhi Niwas has no central online application portal. Admission is handled by the hostel and the district administration, so the process is offline.

1. Find the sanctioned hostels in your district. Ask the District Women and Child Development Officer or the district Social Welfare office for the list, or call 181. Some states publish the list on their WCD department site.
2. Contact the hostel management — a Sakhi Niwas may be run directly by the state department, by a local body or by an implementing voluntary organisation, and ask for the admission form and current vacancy position.
3. Fill the admission form with your employment details, gross monthly income, home address and the details of any children who will stay with you.
4. Attach the documents: salary or income certificate, employment or training proof, identity proof, and children's age proof where applicable.
5. Submit the form to the hostel management or, where the state routes admissions centrally, to the district WCD office.
6. Attend the verification, which checks the income ceiling and that your family does not live in the same area, and collect the allotment letter.
7. Pay the fixed rent and mess charge and take possession of the room. Ask the hostel in writing what the monthly charge covers before you move in.

If no Sakhi Niwas has been sanctioned in your district, the district office can forward a demand to the state department, which proposes new hostels to the Ministry, this is how the demand-driven model is meant to work.

What does a Sakhi Niwas provide?

Sakhi Niwas provides a hostel room with basic furnishing and common facilities, along with a day care centre for residents' children. Because the scheme runs through rented premises and state implementing agencies, the exact package: number of women per room, mess arrangement, security staffing and the monthly charge; is fixed at state level and varies between districts. Confirm these locally rather than assuming a national standard.

How much does a resident pay?

Sakhi Niwas is subsidised, not free. The central assistance meets the rent of the premises and part of the running cost; residents pay a rent and mess charge fixed by the state government or the implementing agency. There is no single all-India figure published for the resident's charge, so ask the hostel for its current rate in writing.

Help and grievance redressal

• Women Helpline: 181
• Emergency response: 112
• District Women and Child Development Officer, for admission disputes, vacancy information or complaints about a hostel
• Mission Shakti portal: missionshakti.wcd.gov.in

No agent or middleman can charge a fee for securing a Sakhi Niwas seat. Admission is decided by the hostel management and the district administration against the published income and employment criteria.