Home ›› 30 Aug 2021 ›› World Biz
When Monica’s landlord suddenly doubled the rent on the room where she lived with her three daughters in Sao Paulo, she says they had little choice but to go live on the streets.
Like a growing number of poor people in Brazil’s economic capital, Monica has fallen on bitter times during the Covid-19 pandemic, forcing her to choose between feeding or housing herself and her girls, ages 12, nine and two.
“If we spend everything on the rent, how are we going to fill our stomachs? People need more than just a roof over their heads, right?” said Monica, 33, who set up an impromptu camp for the family a week ago at Republic Square, in the heart of this sprawling concrete jungle of 12 million people.
She spends her days collecting and selling recyclable materials, earning around 20 to 30 reais (about $4 to $6) a day, before picking her daughters up at school, she said.
Surging unemployment and rising prices, especially for housing, during the pandemic have pushed numerous people like her into the streets.
“There’s been a very big increase in the number of people living on the streets for the first time,” said Kelseny Medeiros Pinho, of the University of Sao Paulo’s human-rights clinic.
