At the same time, specialized reception centers are closed because of the floods
A few days before the floods that devastated Rio Grande do Sul, another tragedy had already struck the capital Porto Alegre. A large fire at Pousada Garoa, in the city center, which housed socially vulnerable people, the majority of whom were homeless, left 10 people dead and at least 5 injured. The incident opened a discussion about the conditions offered by public authorities to this population.
The social protection system in the capital was even more damaged after the floods. Of the 3 units of the Centro Pop (Specialized Reference Center for the Homeless Population) in Porto Alegre, two closed due to the floods. The city also had 3 shelters, but only 2 of them are in operation. After the fire at Pousada Garoa and the floods, vacancies in inns were also reduced.
According to the last census carried out by Porto Alegre City Hall, there were around 4,800 homeless people in the capital, but, given the current scenario, this number is expected to increase.
“The city’s overpasses are full of homeless people. The City Hall needs to quickly organize services to provide people with social protection, both more shelters and an increase in the social assistance network. What we already had was strangled, and now, with this flood, it is becoming more unfeasible to serve this population.”, said Sibeli da Silva Diefenthaeler, social worker at Fasc (Social Assistance and Citizenship Foundation), the body that implements social assistance policy in the municipality.
Uncertain fate
There are only 3 emergency shelters set up specifically for the homeless population in Porto Alegre, and a 4th in which a large proportion of those housed have this profile. The report from Brazil Agency visited 2 of these places.
At the Júlio de Castilhos state school, Julinho, in the center of the capital of Rio Grande do Sul, of the approximately 80 people sheltered, 55 are homeless people. One of them is Márcio José Jungbut dos Santos, 48 years old, known as Marcinho. “I was on the street, I had nowhere to sleep or anything. She worked as a street vendor, selling sneakers, sleeping in the square or under the awning, so as not to get rained on,” she reported. “Here at the hostel, at least there is somewhere to stay, somewhere to eat”, he added.
But Marcinho’s stay there shouldn’t last long, because the school is expected to resume classes next week. “I am waiting for the kind of help promised by the government, so I can pay a pension, eat and work.”he said.
Someone experiencing a similar situation is domestic worker Icleia Machado, 55 years old. She and her husband hurriedly left a guesthouse in the Floresta neighborhood, which was flooded. “Pwe lost everything. I’m waiting for my new identity to be able to secure a job in urban cleaning, as a street cleaner, to earn a minimum wage”said.
Icleia also depends on government assistance to try to start over. “I’m also waiting for the government to release aid to find a way, because we have to leave here, the shelter will be closed. I don’t know if they’re going to put us somewhere or if they’re going to shoot us in the street and leave it to God.”he protested.
“Government aid has to come in, because our days are coming to an end. The school wants to resume classes. And where are we going from here to? I have nowhere to go. I was in a place, with my things, and I ended up with nothing.”, said Carlos Henrique da Rosa. A member of the MNPR (National Movement for the Homeless Population), Rosa, who is 45 years old, lived in a boarding house that was also flooded, in the Menino Deus neighborhood, in the center-south of Porto Alegre. He said that the Civil Defense even warned about the rising water, but that he did not imagine the extent of the flood.
“We had to leave at dawn and I ended up sleeping on the street in an area that hadn’t flooded. When I returned the next day, I went down to Garibaldi Square, saw that it no longer existed, I saw our pension full of water, the Lupicinium [praça Lupicínio Rodrigues] could no longer be seen. At the time, my heart skipped a beat. A few minutes pass and then I see a jet-ski pulling a boat, in the middle of Avenida Érico Veríssimo. I didn’t believe the scene”said Rosa.
Demobilization
In the extreme south of Porto Alegre, in the Restinga neighborhood, Amurt Amurtel, a civil society organization that works in the co-management of social assistance policy, has maintained a temporary shelter for homeless people since May 5th. There are around 30 people welcomed. One of them is Miriã Sebajes, 36 years old.
“I’m homeless, no one is free from that. No one is free for what is happening in the world, they don’t want to open their eyes. What is happening in the world is not normal”, he said about the catastrophe in Rio Grande do Sul. Miriã does not want to leave the temporary shelter without having a place to live.
“There is a lot of violence on the streets. I lost my brothers to drug trafficking, I’m on the street, far from my son. Why is it so difficult to have dignity? That’s where trafficking and drugs embrace you. It’s a refuge, I started to freak out and go into depression”, said Miriã Sebajes.
Someone who is also unsure about the future is Fabiano Gomes da Rosa, 49 years old. He lived in one of the downtown inns paid for by the city hall. “The environment was unhealthy, there were no windows. It wasn’t flooded there, but we were without water and electricity for a long time, so I was recommended to come to the shelter“, he said.
Now, Fabiano is waiting for the possibility of building a house. One of the alternatives defended by social assistance would be the foster care system in a republic, a form of subsidized housing for groups of older people in a state of abandonment, in a situation of vulnerability and personal and social risk, with broken or extremely fragile family ties and without housing conditions and self-sufficiency.
“Today, unfortunately, we still have no perspective for these people. Our idea, from the teams that are here, is to put pressure on public authorities in every way, so that everyone can have an organization for when they leave here.”, says Ana Cristina Aguiar, coordinator of social projects at Amurt.
The report contacted the management of Fasc, which is responsible for the city hall regarding social assistance policy, but received no response until the publication of this text.
With information from Brazil Agency.
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