BRAZIL: Report Challenges Rio Slum Evictions

• by Leonel Plügel (rio de janeiro)
• Monday, May 24, 2010
• Inter Press Service

Investigations by the Land and Housing Group of the Rio state government's People's Advocate Office concluded that 'there is no technical basis for the evacuation' of the Morro dos Prazeres favela that the municipal Geotechnical Institute (Geo-Rio) had recommended.

Mayor Eduardo Paes signed the compulsory evacuation order based on the Geo-Rio report. On Apr. 10, Paes announced that 3,600 families would be evicted from the communities of Morro do Urubú, Fogueteiro, Tabajaras, Laboriux, Cantinho do Céu and Pantanal, in Morro do Turano, Parque Colúmbia and the Morro dos Prazeres.

The measure was decreed two days after the heavy rainstorm that claimed the lives of 256 people, most killed in landslides in the favelas, the crowded neighbourhoods that climb the hills, or 'morros,' of Rio. Thousands were left homeless.

The landscape of favelas spread over the hills is emblematic of this city of six million people. Based on data from the 2000 census, the Pereira Passos Institute estimates that the favelas are home to one million.

In the Land and Housing Group's initial and supplementary studies, 'there is nothing that is coherent with the finding that the entire neighbourhood should be displaced,' said engineer Mauricio Campos, head of research at the People's Advocate Office.

Campos added that 'the rest of the research conducted in the eight favelas is questionable' because Geo-Rio 'marked areas with containment walls that have withstood the rains as 'danger zones'.'

The technical review that Campos signed does recommend the 'relocation of families that live in landslide zones,' but differs from the official decree because it recommends relocation 'within the same neighbourhood or nearby areas,' as the Municipal Organic Law stipulates.

Based on this latest report by the Group -- which will also review Geo-Rio's work in Fogueteiro, Tabajaras and Laboriux -- the residents will ask the city to call off all evictions from the favelas.

The decree 'masks the intent to drive up property values of nearby lands and neighbourhoods by relocating the favelas,' said Marcelo Chamorro, a building owner in Tabajaras.

In his favela, 'the rains didn't cause any injuries, deaths or landslides,' he said, adding, 'This is a favela-neighbourhood. We pay taxes and pay for services, anti-landslide containment walls were built, and the neighbourhood is paved.'

'This neighbourhood has been registered with the municipal government since 1988,' Chamorro said. 'That is why the demolition of perfectly good houses and the compensations offered above market value make me think this is pure real estate speculation.'

Homeowners were offered settlements of 40 percent more than the taxed value of their houses as an incentive to seek housing elsewhere.

Seven of the favelas included in the decree border middle-class and wealthy neighbourhoods. 'In Morro dos Prazeres we have one of the best views in Rio,' said Soraide Gomes, who has lived there 28 years. 'They want us out because this land is worth a fortune.'

Between 1995 and 2002, 14 million dollars was spent on infrastructure in Morro dos Prazeres. 'There were only landslides where no work was done, like Sector 42 and in Pequeno Prazeres, areas that were annexed to the community.'

Included in the danger zones before the April rainstorms were 13,000 homes.

In the view of Jorge Barbosa, one of the coordinators of the non- governmental Favela Observatory, 'the real estate and construction industries are not interested in investing in low-income housing because they want a fast financial return.'

Barbosa, an expert in urban planning with a doctorate in geography, told IPS: 'It's a lie that it isn't viable to urbanise the favelas, and this clean-up through evictions is a moral affront to the social fabric of those who are displaced.'

The displaced who were renting their homes are included in a government plan that provides a 218-dollar monthly subsidy for three months.

And renters as well as homeowners can sign up for the federal government's 'My House, My Life' programme, which builds low-income neighbourhoods in the city centre and suburbs.

'That money is only enough to rent in outlying areas, and resolves nothing because those people have lost everything,' said Barbosa.

Luanda de Castro lived until May 16 in one of the shelters the city improvised in a school, 'because the landslide destroyed half of my house, which was made of wood and mud.' A single mother with two daughters and unemployed, she lived in Morro do Turano until last month.

'Now I'm going to start receiving the rent subsidy and sign up for My House, My Life, because I have nowhere to go,' she said.

Cristiane Susana Silva, Castro's neighbour in the favela and in the shelter, supports the evacuation. 'I don't want to relive that day,' she said. 'I can't blame this government because nobody ever invested in infrastructure in Turano.'

© Inter Press Service (2010) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service

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