ABSTRACT
This chapter explores Brazil’s approach to homelessness, analyzing its theoretical framework, policies, and legislations since the 1990s. Employing an integrative review methodology and drawing from the authors’ fieldwork, this study highlights the pivotal role of the National Homeless Movement (MNPR), a nationwide movement led by homeless individuals, in shaping Brazilian homelessness law and policy. The chapter highlights how, despite social assistance efforts, exclusion from housing policies persists for the homeless. It argues that in order to promote public housing and counteract housing commodification and homeless guardianship paradigms, a holistic transformation is imperative. This, the chapter contends, in turn, requires a shift in policies, theoretical dimensions, ethics, politics, law, and socio-cultural viewpoints on homelessness.
