Romilda Nunes, 63 years old, and her sick husband, João Cosme live in the Prestes Maia building, a colossal abandoned clothes factory that towers over central Sao Paulo. It is home to 468 families; around 2,000 people from the MSTC (Downtown Homeless People’s Movement), the biggest occupation of its kind in Latin America, with 22 storeys in total.

Recently, a Sao Paulo judge granted an injunction for the repossession of the property, ignoring the residential rights of the occupants and even a UN report that declares; “the municipal government of Sao Paulo, through the Secretaria de Habitacao e Desenvolvimento Urbano and COHAB, should promote the renovation of the Prestes Maia building for housing and social interests, to meet the objective of the dispossession of the building by the municipality.”

Sao Paulo, Brazil.

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