The initiative is supported by the organized movements acting in this segment, and its objective is to give a voice to people in this horrifying situation, and work for the implementation of public policies focused on the needs of this population, guaranteeing their rights and the dignity.

For this, they are proposing to act in articulating actions around needs such as housing, social assistance, food, health care, education, work, justice and culture.

Among the priorities is the opening of a debate on the improvement of a law that establishes the State Policy of Specific Attention for the Population in a Homeless Situation, joint action with mayors’ offices and the federal government and in dialogue with civil society, in order to humanize and universalize care.

According to the Brazilian Observatory of Public Policies with the Homeless Population of the Federal University of the state of Minas Gerais (southeast of the country), Sao Paulo has 86,782 people in this situation. The figure is nearly half of the homeless population of all Brazil.

Only in the capital of Sao Paulo there are 52,226 inhabitants living under this condition, according to official data from the mayor’s office.

The numbers may be much higher, warn the researchers, who estimate an underreporting of up to 35 percent, as the update rate of the Single Registry for Social Programs in the state is very low. The discount for capital is 63.3 percent, with the national average being 81.2.

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