An unprecedented survey, produced by the National Zero Evictions Campaign and released this Wednesday (14), shows that more than 1.5 million Brazilians suffered evictions or forced removals between October 2022 and July 2024. This represented an increase of 70%, since in October 2022, 898,916 people had faced this situation.
The mapping brings together collective cases of forced removal of individuals and entire communities, who were expelled from their places of residence. This includes not only judicial cases, but also administrative processes promoted by the public authorities.
The increase seen in the period, explained Raquel Ludermir, Political Advocacy Manager at Habitat for Humanity Brazil, may be related to the fact that, during the Covid-19 pandemic, the Supreme Federal Court (STF) determined the suspension of evictions and the repossession of vulnerable families. The measure ended up lasting until the end of October 2022. “Until now, several cases were held up by this ruling from the STF. After that, we had the release, and evictions became legal again. So, what we are seeing is a very significant increase that reflects the resumption of the progress of these judicial eviction and threat of repossession proceedings, in general,” she said in an interview with Brazil Agency and to TV Brazil.
Another factor that may have contributed to this increase, Raquel explained, is the high cost of living as a result of the pandemic. “We know that during the pandemic, people became very impoverished and the cost of living increased significantly. So it is possible that many people have resorted to squatting,” she recalled. “If the family is already living in precarious conditions, is living on charity, and sometimes has to compromise on food and food security to pay the rent at the end of the month, then they may resort to urban squatting.”
Profile
The Brazilian housing crisis is class, gender and race-related, the survey revealed. The vast majority of those affected are people who identify as black or brown (66.3% of the total), women (62.6%) and those who earn up to two minimum wages (74.5%). “We are talking about predominantly low-income people, who are very vulnerable from a socioeconomic point of view. It is also a predominantly black population and, often, headed by women. The country has a historical debt in relation to the demand for housing from this population.”
Of the total number of victims of these removals and evictions, approximately 267,000 are children and more than 262,000 are elderly people. “We know that despite housing being a constitutional right and a human right, we are still in a country where there are at least 6 million people in a housing deficit and another 26 million in inadequate housing conditions. The research indicates the tip of the iceberg of a historical problem in Brazil. We are talking here about housing, the problem of the fight for land and how this is linked to issues of poverty and intersections,” said Raquel Ludermir.
Underestimated numbers
According to the National Zero Evictions Campaign – a national group made up of 175 organizations that work to fight for the right to life in the city and in the countryside and that carried out the mapping collectively – this number could be even higher since the research does not consider the homeless population and people who are threatened by socio-environmental disasters.
What the survey was able to show is that, of the total number of victims of evictions or forced removals, 333,763 correspond to threatened families, 42,098 to evicted families and 78,810 to families living with the eviction suspended.
Among the most affected regions, São Paulo leads the ranking with the highest number of families threatened (90,015) and evicted (9,508). The state of Pernambuco appears in second place in the ranking of families threatened (43,411) and in fifth place in the ranking of evicted families (2,194). The state of Amazonas appears in second place in the number of evicted families (5,541) and in third place in the ranking of families threatened (31,902).
Reintegration of possession and major works
According to Raquel, these forced removals or evictions are mainly motivated by repossession, when there is a conflict between the person who claims to own the property or land and the families who are occupying these places.
The second main reason is forced removals driven by public authorities, mainly due to major construction projects. “This may be related to major projects – such as transport, drainage or sewage systems – or smaller-scale projects, which are supposedly for the benefit of the population itself, but which end up having contradictory effects of removal,” he said.
That is why, at this time when major projects under the Growth Acceleration Program (PAC) are being resumed, Raquel argues that we need to rethink how much they may be affecting the most vulnerable population. “It is very important that we are vigilant so that these projects do not have an even more negative effect on the vulnerable population,” she emphasized. “Public works can never increase the housing deficit or the housing problem in the country, because otherwise we are only favoring one sector of development.”
Solutions
For the organization’s manager, it is urgent to think about a national policy for mediating land conflicts, with interministerial efforts to resolve the problem. Another point raised by her concerns legislation and judicial decisions. “We have several measures at the level of the National Council of Justice, such as Resolution 510 of 2003, which establishes the need for mediation of these conflicts with visits on sitethat is, it is the judge coming down from the office and actually putting his feet on the ground and meeting the people who are being removed.”
According to her, it is also necessary to close legislative proposals that seek to further marginalize these people. “There are legislative proposals that are being processed that establish – or attempt to establish – that people who need to occupy properties or land also lose their rights to social programs, such as Bolsa Família, the Continuous Benefit Payment (BPC) or the right to participate in public competitions. This is an attempt to doubly punish a population that is already quite vulnerable, that is, a person who already does not have the right to housing, in addition to everything else, runs the risk of losing the right to a social program.”
The mapping can be consulted at website of the campaign.
