Most (84 per cent) were married. Nearly 40 per cent lived in reinforced cement concrete (RCC) houses, while more than two-thirds (38 per cent) of the respondents were in houses constructed with asbestos or zinc sheets. Consistent with the hypothesis, the table confirms that the occupational distribution of the slum dwellers in Chennai is skewed towards services, such as driving, construction work, manual labour and services in private organizations.