UA in Focus - June 2007: "I want to thank you for my house": the campaign for the Prestes Maia building

Index Number: ACT 60/012/2007
Date Published: 1 June 2007
Categories: Americas, Brazil

On 3 November 2003, hundreds of homeless families occupied an abandoned clothes factory in downtown S�o Paulo, Brazil, the 22-storey Prestes Maia building. It had been empty for over 12 years. Working with a local NGO, the Movimento Sem-Teto do Centro (MSTC), Homeless Movement of Central S�o Paulo, the families cleaned out the building. In May 2007 Community leader Jomarina thanked Amnesty International on behalf of the Prestes Maia families.