Government billboard describing a subsidized, resident-led building project

On December 6th and 7th women representing community-based organizations in seven countries in Central and South America visited a number of projects that members of the Union of Housing Movements of São Paulo (UMMSP) are currently developing to redress social exclusion, stimulate in urban reform, and ensure all residents have permanent and dignified housing.

UMMSP is a volunteer organization that works in São Paulo, the largest city in the Americas, to build the capacity of residents to access land and housing through workshops and trainings, negotiations with city officials, mass demonstrations and, when all else fails, mass occupations of abandoned buildings throughout the city. São Paulo has a population of 20 million with an estimate of 5% of the population living in about 2000 informal settlements spread throughout the city. One of the greatest accomplishments of UMMSP has been to convince the city to fund the construction of new apartments and in some cases, directly contract with an organization to manage the projects. Members of UMMSP, who will reside in the buildings once they are completed, do the construction work themselves.

After twenty years of fighting UMMSP has been able to attain national recognition and respect for their work. They feel this is because they are a bottom-up movement. The Union only allows those that are from the area become coordinators. They believe that it is crucial that the leadership has the same experiences as community members who are struggling for home ownership. The Union also works with a number of partners and volunteers who haven’t had the experience of living without land or in informal settlements, who they call ajudantes, or helpers. In addition to bottom-up organizing, the level of commitment and organizing is high among leaders, community members and volunteers.

The Huairou Commission and participating members attending the exchange were able to visit a sample of the many projects that UMMSP is currently working on to see this process first hand. We were all extremely impressed with the work of UMMSP!

December 6th
HELOPOLIS – This favela, or informal settlement, was created in the 1970’s when 120 families were evicted from their homes and came to live in the area. Helopolis has grown into the second largest favela in Brazil with a population of about 125,000 residents. It is now considered an ‘urbanized’ favela with access to a range of services and programs and is going through a process of regularization to enable the residents to obtain titles and own the homes in which they live.

Our first stop was at the community laundry facility where between 80 and 100 residents of Helopolis come to wash their clothes each day. The facility has been running for four years and is free to community members, although they must bring their own soap and other necessities for washing. The facility employs a coordinator and other paid staff. The entire facility is supported by OMU, a soap company in Brazil. This community laundry facility is one of the best examples within all of the UMMSP projects of full support from a private business or group.

Our next visit in Helopolis was a community center that offers varied services and education programs for children, youth and adults. The center also coordinates social activities including sports and other recreation for youth to participate in. The children and youth that are considered ‘at risk’, that are orphaned or stay in their houses alone when their parents are at work, are chosen to participate in the educational programs. There is a high demand for the services of the center as the parents and community members want to ensure that children and youth aren’t spending the day alone in their homes watching Television or staying in the street. In total 400 youth in the community participate in programs at the center.

In addition to seeing what was going on within the community, we also were able to share our stories with all of Helopolis as well as some of the surrounding areas through community-run Radio Helopolis. Here we shared the experiences of members of the Huairou Commission delegation and the mission for our visit. We also let the community know that we were here with a priority to ensure that women have access to land and housing throughout Brazil and the entire Latin American region.

Our final stop in Helopolis was to visit the central community center through which all the varied projects of the community are linked. We learned about the violence that the people of Helopolis faced in the past and that one of the largest resistance movements of the community was led by a woman. The resistance movement enabled community members to resist eviction. As they told us, “to live with dignity is our fight!”

DIADIMA – Our second visit was to a community of about 1,500 families that moved to the area in 1993 where there was absolutely nothing – no basic services such as water, sanitation, etc. In 1997 they were able to purchase the land though the movement. Within a couple years they began constructing their own buildings as well as managing a construction project that was done by an external contractor. Regardless of who constructs the buildings, those apartments that are initiated by UMMSP are much less expensive than those going for market rates, although generally those constructed by the future residents themselves are slightly less expensive (18,000 versus 16,000 Reais, a difference of about $1,000 USD).

A building constructed by residents in Diadima

We learned the process of the mutirão, or community construction, where many of the residents who put in the work were women, as their partners and spouses left for work, the women were the ones organizing and advancing the construction. They organized into groups including those that carried wood, poured concrete, etc. and worked 8 hours a day, Monday through Sunday. Once the buildings were constructed, the families individually negotiated a payment system for their apartments that was based on their income. They have up to 25 years to pay their mortgages. The average payment is about 180 Reais, or about $80 USD. Residents can only sell the property once it is paid off, in an effort to empower people with secure tenure, rather than allowing them to sell it off at the first immediate need.

The issues of race, gender and class discrimination affecting all Brazilians were strongly addressed by Kiusam de Oliveira, Coordinator of the Diversity Program in area schools, spoke to the group about the Brazilian experience, particularly the experience of Brazilian women who are Afro-descendents, where Afro-Brazilian women experience triple discrimination in Brazil. For example, for their work they receive 60% less than white men in Brazil and 40% less than white women. These questions are not simply about equal rights and salaries, but prejudices that run deep.

JARDIM CELESTE – Another strong community that was able to attain land and construct their housing more than ten years back is the community of Jardim Celeste, or celestial gardens, where Maria das Gracas Xavier, Coordinator for UMMSP in the region and a Huairou Commission member, resides.

Although many of the community construction projects were done some years back, the community is still undergoing a process of regularization to attain titles and formalized ownership of the land. This shows that the entire process of obtaining land and housing is long and requires commitment and dedication.

PAULO FREIRE – Our final stop of the day was to visit a project that is in the middle of construction. Currently about 100 families are working nights and weekends to be able to move into their new homes. This is an example of auto-gestão, or self-management, when the municipal government passes the financing and management responsibility to the organization, in this case UMMSP, and the organization is responsible for the implementation of the project. This community group has been challenged at times when the money was held up within government channels, but they are well organized. The Huairou Commission delegation was able to visit just two days before the new residents were going to be able to choose their new apartments.

To implement a project of this scale, UMMSP holds meetings in each region once per week. In an example of incentive-based organizing, each member receives points for attending meetings, participating in workshops and trainings, and going to protests. Once UMMSP is able to secure or negotiate land in the city, those residents with the most points are chosen to reside in the area.

December 7th
WEST ZONE – The second day of our visits in São Paulo began with a visit to a group in the Western zone of the city who would soon be moving into their new apartments. Over lunch our delegation met with residents and organizers to discuss some of the successes and major challenges that UMMSP and the people of the Western zone are experiencing.

A building in the West Zone

To date the Union has been able to attain permanent housing for 6,500 people. Despite these successes there are still thousands of families facing forced evictions. Currently the São Paulo is going through a process of ingenização, or cleaning, of the city. This means that the city is paying people a small incentive or forcing them to leave those settlements that are not formalized. In the Western zone in particular a majority of people coming to find work and live in the area are from the Northeastern part of Brazil. Many of these people are being threatened with eviction.

“Villa dos Idosos” or the AGING PEOPLE’S VILLAGE – Our next stop was to a new project for UMMSP and for the city of São Paulo, an apartment complex specifically for older residents. This is the first project of its kind in São Paulo. They opened the complex in August of this year and currently have residents in 145 apartments (some single and some couples). We met two social workers who are collaborating with the residents to develop the programs and services that they want in their new living space. For many of the residents developing their new space collaboratively is very important. As Dona Olga, a member of UMMSP and a long-time organizer for older peoples’ rights to dignified housing told us, “We hate it when younger people come in and command our lives and tell us what to do.”

A group meeting at Villa dos Idosos

There were a number of criteria that were used to select the new residents. The first was to be registered with the city on a waiting list for housing. The second was to be a resident of São Paulo of at least four years. Third, they have to have a particularly limited income, and fourth, they have to be independent. This is not a full service home, so it is important that the residents are able to take care of themselves, be mobile and responsible for things such as paying bills.

For UMMSP this project has been part of a struggle within the movement to separate out issues of particular groups including both older people as well as women. In 1999 the Movement organized to attain the land. By 2003 priority was given to the project, but there were no funds to be found. The Movement put pressure on the government and in addition to international pressure, were able to start the process of building in 2004.

Now the Movement and the residents are excited to show that with hard work, projects such as these are possible. Although many seniors now have homes, there are still many that are waiting. For this reason they are encouraging participation by the residents in order to demonstrate the successes and get more projects such as these built.

WORKSHOP AT INSTITUTE POLIS – To close our visit in São Paulo, UMMSP organized a session in the center of the city at the Institute Polis, a non-profit center dedicated to issues of citizenship and governance that often partners with UMMSP on research and programs, for each of the international group participants to share their perceptions of what they had seen of the urban Brazilian land and housing issues during the exchange, as well as share their own work and experiences with the participants. During the open debate it was clear that many participants saw their struggles represented in the stories of others. The seminar was a rich discussion of the issues relevant to all of Latin America as well as the importance of women’s organizing and advocacy to ensure access to land and housing. While differences across the region were heard, the resounding message from the discussions that day were Organization, Solidarity and Community!

Participants in the exchange were:

• Marling Haydee Rodriguez, Cooperativa Las Brumas, Nicaragua
• Balbina Chimilio, Comite de Emergencia Garifuna, Honduras
• Elena Cocon, Coordinator of Women’s Land Rights for the Women and Peace Network, Guatemala
• Benedito, National Union of Housing Movements (UNMP), Brazil
• Claudia Nunes, Community of Victoria, Chile
• Cepriana Laguna Bustinza, FOVELIC, Peru

Click here to read about the Community Land Watch which followed the peer exchange