Senators want to make the STF decision on homelessness into law

In the wake of the recent decision of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) that prevented the removal of homeless people, government senators want to approve Bill (PL) 1,635/2022 – authored by senator Randolfe Rodrigues (Rede-AP), leader of government in Congress –, which seeks to consolidate similar proposals into law.

In July, Moraes defined that states and municipalities cannot remove homeless people from public spaces or collect their belongings. Furthermore, he created a set of measures to be adopted by federal, state and municipal governments related to the well-being of the homeless population.

On that occasion, jurists consulted by the People’s Gazette they highlighted that the minister was ignoring the separation of powers and the federative model. The decision was confirmed by the Court’s plenary session a month later.

The project establishes the Homeless Population Statute, which prevents “the forced collection of goods and belongings” from homeless people. It also prohibits “the compulsory removal and transportation of the homeless population.”

In the case of collecting belongings, the text makes an exception for “cases in which the physical integrity of the person themselves is compromised”.

On the 11th, the Senate’s Human Rights Commission (CDH) approved the document, which will be taken to the Constitution and Justice Commission (CCJ), a stage that precedes the vote in plenary.

For Paulo Kramer, PhD in Political Science from the University Research Institute of Rio de Janeiro (IUPERJ), the Senate’s project and the Supreme Court’s decision are “another chapter in a regrettable escalation of demagoguery that is taking over Brazilian political culture today” . “It contaminates all powers: the Executive, the Legislative and the Judiciary. The homeless person is exposed – especially innocent children, the children and grandchildren of these people, who are exposed to a series of dangers, the lack of hygiene, the danger of being run over by cars”, he comments.

In Kramer’s view, the Legislature and the STF are making decisions that should be limited to the scope of the Executive. “The Executive is the legal and constitutionally appropriate space to carry out these tasks. The Legislature and the Judiciary, going beyond their functions, intend to legislate and regulate this, and they do so in a wrong, demagogic, ineffective, innocuous way, harmful to urban mobility , harmful to the safety of people and children”, he notes.

In this context, for Kramer, the Executive manager ends up becoming “inhibited, frightened”, especially due to the scrutiny that his actions receive from the Judiciary. “The Judiciary has exceeded so many of its functions, and has acted in such a threatening and intrusive way in relation to the other powers, that the manager is paralyzed. This situation is responsible for what we call ‘pen blackout’: the manager ends up not wanting to fulfill their responsibility for fear of fulfilling it”, he states.

Alessandro Chiarottino, PhD in Constitutional Law from USP, recalls that there are “rules for the use of public space and, mainly, for its permanent or temporary occupation”. Not observing them, he highlights, means violating citizens’ right to enjoy public space.

“Under the false ideology of ‘social justice’, the overwhelming majority of the population is being deprived of constitutional rights such as the right to come and go, security, the right to a balanced environment and others”, he states.

For Chiarottino, allowing the disorderly and arbitrary occupation of public space “creates an environment of disorder whose result is only the proliferation of misery, insecurity, the devaluation of properties, the loss of community life.” “Paradoxically, demagogic measures like this tend to drive people away from urban centers,” he says.

After the STF decision, August sees the biggest increase in the homeless population in the year

The month of August had the highest percentage increase in families living on the streets in 2023. The increase occurred in the month following the monocratic decision by Minister Alexandre de Moraes, of the STF, to block the removal of homeless people in Brazil.

In August, the last month analyzed to date, the homeless population was 2.72% higher than in July – Brazil had 220.2 thousand families on the streets registered by the government; in the previous month, the number had been 214.4 thousand.

The increase was driven especially by capitals such as Maceió (AL), where there was a 7.12% increase in the number of families living on the streets; João Pessoa (PB), with 7.05%; and Manaus, with 6.07%.

The smallest increase of the year was from March to April, with 0.22% more families registered in Brazil; From June to July, there was the second biggest increase of the year: 2.51%. The data comes from the Secretariat for Evaluation, Information Management and Single Registry (SAGICAD) of the Ministry of Development and Social Assistance, Family and Fight Against Hunger.

There is no proof of the correlation between the STF decision and the August increase. Experts have criticized, however, the demagogic and ineffective nature of the proposed measures.