This paper aims to describe the lived experience of slum dwellers of Islam Abad neighborhood of the city of Tehran. Therefore, this is a qualitative study which was carried out during the Spring and Summer seasons of 1390 (2011). Of the 20 to 63 year-old residents of Islam Abad neighborhood, based on purposive sampling technique, after 20 individuals were interviewed, the researcher felt to have reached the point of information saturation. Data collection was done through in-depth interviewing and the analysis of the data was done using the Collaizzi method. It was found that the perception and experience of slum-dwellers of living in the slum is very different from what others (researchers, policy-makers, and ordinary people) believe. This, however, does not mean that slum-dwellers have a positive view of living there, because it is obvious that the experience of poverty, being labeled slum-dweller, being always worried and uncertain about one's place of residence, unawareness of authorities' policies about slums, etc. is not a pleasant one. Another find was the unpredictability of the future and therefore the development of a present –time orientation as a coping mechanism. It was also found that fatalism is another coping mechanism since the resident think they can't go back to their place of origins and do not know that their situation would be any better if they move out the slum. Denial is also coping mechanism when it comes to the ability of home ownership and better quality of life.