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CITIES HOUSING MOVEMENTS PAYSANDU FIRE SÃO PAULO SOCIAL MOVEMENTS

São Paulo: 34 days after fire, victims still living in tents

City, State and Federal Governments abandon victims of Paysandu fire and building collapse By Benedito Barbosa On May 1, a former federal police building that was occupied by squatters caught fire and collapsed on Paysandu square, killing an undetermined number of people and leaving 455 homeless. 34 days later, dozens of families are still sleeping […]

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CITIES HOUSING PAYSANDU FIRE SOCIAL INCLUSION SOCIAL MOVEMENTS

The Paysandu Fire and the Right to the City

By Brian Mier. In the early morning of May 1, a 24 story building on Paysandu square in central São Paulo caught fire and collapsed. There are three confirmed deaths and 36 people are still missing. The building was a squat which was home to 140 families. The fire department was quick to the scene […]

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CITIES HOUSING PAYSANDU FIRE SOCIAL INCLUSION SOCIAL MOVEMENTS

A Tragedy Foretold: FLM leader Osmar Silva Borges on the Paysandu Fire

Although squatters are frequently treated as criminals in the national and international media, according to article 5 of the 1988 Brazilian Constitution, any citizen who does not own property has the right to occupy any abandoned tax-scofflaw building and pressure the government to convert it to ownership-based social housing. In São Paulo, a dozen buildings […]

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CITIES HOUSING MEDIA PAYSANDU FIRE SOCIAL INCLUSION SOCIAL MOVEMENTS

When Living is a Privilege, Occupying is a Right

According to the Brazilian Constitution of 1988, land banking is a crime. Unlike in, for example, the United States, it is illegal for a landlord to hold a building empty for years, without paying real estate taxes or maintaining the property, waiting for real estate values to rise so that he can flip it. If […]