Housing advocacy groups say local governments in Brazil are using the coming Olympics to justify forced evictions and segregation in Rio de Janeiro

After 75 years living in the same house in a busy neighbourhood in the heart of Rio de Janeiro’s North Zone, 88-year-old Arlette Rosa José struggled to adapt to life on the distant fringes of the city.

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Along with another 385 families in the area, she and her daughter were forced from their home when city hall ordered their removal to make way for a high-speed bus lane linking the international airport with Barra da Tijuca, the neighbourhood that will host most of the 2016 Olympic Games venues.

Complications over the legal status of the property mean the Josés have yet to receive any compensation. And with no money, the family has moved to an area where the rent is affordable, over 30km away from their original home.

“We have no friends here,” said Arlette’s daughter, Elizabeth. “My mother spends a lot of time just sitting on the sofa, weeping.”



According to figures from Rio de Janeiro city government, 22,059 families have been resettled since 2009, either because of their homes being labelled “at risk” or to make way for transport and other infrastructure projects related to the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.



City hall insists that the only resettlements related to the Games are those of the 344 families at Vila Autódromo, a favela on the fringes of the main Olympic Park. Many of those families have been relocated to Parque Carioca, a condominium complex 1km away.



But Theresa Williamson, the executive director of the Rio-based NGO Catalytic Communities, which lobbies for the recognition of the city’s favelas as the solution to its housing deficit, says that the local government is using the pretext of the Olympics to segregate the city.



“Wherever there is an Olympics, the level of transparency goes way down,” she said. “Whether it’s for the new BRT [the Bus Rapid Transit system] or the evictions at Vila Autódromo, the Olympics is the context for all of these resettlements.”



Dozens of bus lines have recently been axed, complicating yet further the journey into the city for many of its commuters. “This is part of an unofficial policy to divide the rich from the poor in Rio,” Williamson said.



Almost three-quarters of the families removed from their homes over the past six years have been rehoused under the federal government’s flagship social housing programme, Minha Casa Minha Vida (MCMV). While some of these residents have been moved to housing estates near their original homes, more than 8,600 families have been moved to the city’s West Zone, in some cases up to 60km away from the city centre.



Facebook Twitter Pinterest A resident of the Vila Autódromo favela, where about half have left, picks up her clothes in front of the construction work. Photograph: Pilar Olivares/Reuters

According to Dr Melissa Fernández Arrigoitia, an LSE sociologist who recently carried out research on the resettlements, the distance, exacerbated by the area’s poor transport links, has had a “massive impact” on residents’ job opportunities and mental health.



In her study of the Recanto da Natureza, a housing complex of 384 apartments 50km outside of Rio, Fernández Arrigoitia found that many of the residents were obliged to work from home, despite rules banning the use of the apartments as work places.



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As well as the loss of jobs, residents also complained they had to pay more for utilities. A lack of local schools, health facilities and other basic infrastructure is another common concern for those living on the fringes of the city.

In many of the city’s MCMV complexes, illicit militia groups are also a serious concern. Mainly comprised of off-duty or former police officers and firefighters, militias extort “taxes” from residents in return for basic services and security.



Facebook Twitter Pinterest Trash fills an area in the Favela do Metro slum outside Maracana stadium, where some lost their homes two years ago for the area to be renovated for the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympics. Photograph: Felipe Dana/AP

Sixty kilometres from the centre of Rio, the Almada Condominium in Santa Cruz houses many of those forced out by the BRT Transcarioca, which links the international airport with Barra da Tijuca, the site of the main Olympic park.



Residents pay between R$30 to R$50 (US$8 to US$13) a month to a local militia, which in return supplies gas and cable TV, and says that it prevents the spread of drug trafficking. Those who cannot or will not pay are expelled.



“More people are leaving than entering,” Claudia Cury, a resident, said. “Lots of people are selling up and moving back to the favela because there are so many hidden costs.”

