Homeless Population on the Rise in Rio de Janeiro

08/14/2017 - 10h09

Adilson Quintão Filho, 43, is a driver. He moved to Rio de Janeiro back in June for work, but after driving a bus to and from the Rocinha favela for 30 days, he lost his job. His boss claimed that the recession had forced him to cut spending. But the driver from Minas Gerais persisted.

He used the R$ 1000 (US$ 312) he got from unemployment to rent a hotel room for 20 days while he looked for a job. Mr. Quintão Filho, who is the father of two girls who live in Vitória (Espírito Santo), ran out of money on Monday (the 7th) and was forced to spend a night on the streets.

The following day, he went to Carioca Square and requested help from public workers, who took him into a shelter, offered him lunch, and registered him as yet another homeless man in Rio.

"I've got nothing, but I'm not going to give up. I'm not going back home empty-handed", said Mr. Quintão Filho, who spent over a decade driving across Brazil as a truckdriver.

The latest survey that Rio conducted under the administration of Marcelo Crivella (PRB), revealed that there were 8,529 people living on the streets throughout the first four months of the year.

That figure will only tend to increase: in January alone, there were 1,031 homeless people, a 78% rise when compared to January of 2016.

The latest annual survey indicated that 14,279 people lived on the streets in 2016. According to city employees, the figure will be higher in 2017.

The recession, which has persisted on the local, state and national levels, is considered the main candidate for explaining the phenomenon.

According to the Crivella administration, the area with the highest concentration of homeless people is in central Rio: its streets host over a third of them.

Translated by THOMAS MATHEWSON

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	Ricardo Borges/Folhapress
	The latest annual survey indicated that 14,279 people lived on the streets in 2016; the figure will be higher in 2017