Union of housing movements in São Paulo criticized the alternatives presented by the state government to withdraw families from the community for not meeting the needs of residents
The State Government of and the City Hall announced on Thursday (24) that they will negotiate compensation for the 38 traders who have their professional activities located within, in the Elíseos fields, the last community still standing in downtown São Paulo. The city says that there was a voluntary adhesion of 86% of residents of the community to the local removal plan, considered risk area, but admits to facing difficulties in relation to those who have their trades in the favela (most also live in the site).
The government and the city did not specify, however, how this compensation will be made. The initial idea is that traders are able to set up their business in other places, says Marcelo Branco, Secretary of State for Urban Development and Housing. Management will create a working group to meet with traders and negotiate these conditions. “Tomorrow starts individual negotiations to receive these traders,” said Felício Ramuth, acting governor-Tarcisio is traveling in Europe.
The community is located between train lines, in a walled area, with only one entry and low possibility of flow. It is under the viaduct that connects the avenues Rudge and Rio Branco, near Júlio Prestes Station. In the last decade, two large fires have been recorded that left dead and hundreds of homeless. These characteristics have made over the years unfeasible the various promises of regularization of the area made by public managers.
Investigations also point out that the community is used by the first command of the capital (CCP) as a “fortress” for drug trafficking in the city center. According to the State Public Prosecution Service, criminals use the space to watch off police actions. The community is also regarded as a refuge for bandits and drug and weapons hiding place, as well as sheltering the headquarters of the region’s “court of crime”.
This Tuesday (22), the first families left the favela and went to provisional apartments, while waiting for the delivery of a definitive home. The São Paulo State Housing and Urban Development Company (CDHU) states that it is offering varied housing alternatives, offering housing assistance while the properties are not ready.
Some community residents, however, say the proposals have been insufficient, especially for families who want to stay in the center – there are generations who have grown in the Moinho favela and today work there. They also claim that the presence of PMs has pressured them.
This Thursday, the Union of Housing Movements of São Paulo criticized the alternatives presented by the state government to remove families from Favela do Moinho, for not meeting the needs of residents. In a statement, the government says that the community is made up of 821 families and that its withdrawal from the place is “an action to bring dignity and security to this population, which lives at high risk and in unhealthy conditions.”
Protests
Mill residents have been conducting a series of protests against demolitions of houses in the community. On April 18, there was a protest against the presence of Military Police agents at the site, which temporarily interrupted the circulation of trains between the Julio Prestes and Palmeiras-Barra Funda stations, on line 8-Diamond. According to residents, agents would have arrived at the scene launching moral effects against the population.
*With information from Estadão Content
Posted by Nátaly Tenório
