This research aims to understand how members of the urban poor community in Penjaringan, North Jakarta, struggle to obtain their rights as citizens, i.e. housing and healthcare. The community is organised under the non-governmental organisation Urban Poor Consortium (UPC), which has established a unit called JERAMI (Jaringan Rakyat Miskin, or the urban poor network). The network is spread throughout twelve Indonesian cities, including Jakarta, where it is known as JRMK. The urban poor united under JRMK are found in five different regions of the city, with the greatest number in North and East Jakarta. This research has focused on North Jakarta. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022.