Slum clearance policy in Delhi excludes many families from the resettlement programmes. This contribution identifies diverse mechanisms of exclusion, assesses the extent of the affected population and the consequences of forced eviction on its living conditions. Demolitions entail the impoverishment of the families, as they affect their physical, financial, human and social capital. The repetition of evictions, observed at the level of the squatter settlements and in the individual life stories, contributes to the “ nomadisation ” of the families excluded from the resettlement programmes and their upholding in a poverty trap. Various survival strategies emerge from the trajectories of the excluded families.