Without Dialogue or Compensation, Rio de Janeiro City Hall Gives 10 Days Notice to Forcibly Evict the Santa Luzia Community, Which Over Decades Has Fought—And Won—Housing Rights Battles

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On January 8, 2025, residents of the Santa Luzia favela, located between the neighborhoods of Vargem Pequena and Vargem Grande in Rio de Janeiro’s West Zone, were blindsided by a ten-day deadline to vacate their homes. The notice was issued by Rio de Janeiro City Hall’s Municipal Secretariat of Public Order (SEOP) through posters put up across the community, with no prior warning or consultation with residents.

Elisângela Dias*, 24, mother of Luísa and Breno*, is expecting her third child and describes how critical this situation is for her family at such a delicate time:

“This whole thing really upset me. I’m still nervous and desperate because of my kids, because of my son’s and my daughter’s mental health. They attend a public school. My girl only has one kidney and is under treatment at the Federal University Hospital. During Covid, I was living rent free, so I worked, saved money, and bought a little piece of land that someone with a claim to it sold me. So, OK. I did all that so my kids could have a dignified life, because the government wants kids in school, they want kids with up-to-date vaccination cards. If you check their vaccination cards, you’ll see everything is in order. But then, out of nowhere, this kind of news hits you. Because anyone who knows the SEOP knows that when they show up, it’s to kick people out. Where am I supposed to go with my kids? I’m not even from here. I’m from Minas Gerais, from Belo Horizonte. But my kids are Rio natives, they’re cariocas. I’d have to uproot their whole lives—their school, daycare, friends—and where would I take them? It makes no sense. I’m 36 weeks pregnant. I’m about to give birth. I could go into labor and come back home to find that I have no home. How am I supposed to set up the crib if I don’t even know if we can stay here?”

Similarly, Marluce Santos*, 48, who has lived in the Santa Luzia community for decades, is distressed by the City Hall’s disrespect and the possibility of forced eviction:

“We are devastated, we are very sad. This is a community with a lot of people, and everyone here is poor. We need help and we’re not getting any. I live with my children, with seven kids in the house, and though we need help, we’re not getting… If you look around, you’ll see this is a very humble place. I’ve lived here for 38 years—I’m 48 now. I’ve been through a lot here, only to now get this news that the community has just a few days to leave!”

City Hall argues that the community is occupying a marginal protection strip (FMP), areas of land along the margins of bodies of water designated for environmental protection and the conservation of springs, rivers, lakes, lagoons, and reservoirs.

Contrary to what is stated in Article 285 of Complementary Law No. 270/2024, used in the forced eviction notice, the residents of Santa Luzia occupy an area established during the colonial period, when Portuguese-owned lands were granted to local workers—mostly descendants of quilombolas and migrants from the Brazilian Northeast—who practiced subsistence farming along the Portelo Canal, long before more recent laws were enacted. Furthermore, the community has been registered with the Land and Cartography Institute of the State of Rio de Janeiro (ITERJ) since 1992 and recognized as a Special Area of Social Interest (AEIS) since 2006.

Santa Luzia’s official identity emerged in 1984, when a firefighter named Seu Aroldo registered the community’s residents’ association and became a local leader at the time. Throughout its history, Santa Luzia has faced numerous disputes driven by land ownership interests.

Onset of Conflicts

In 2006, Santa Luzia residents organized a collective mobilization through an assembly called the Popular Union Movement (MUP), which resulted in the inclusion of a declaration signed by 29 communities as Special Areas of Social Interest (AEIS) in the Vargens Urban Structuring Plan (PEU), which at the time was being developed specifically to open up opportunities for the real estate market.

This action prevented residents from being forcibly evicted in the following year, 2007, during the administration of former mayor César Maia in preparation for the Rio Pan American Games. During César Maia’s administration, there was a proposal to implement the Carioca Venice project, which aimed to turn all rivers and canals in the Vargens area into navigable water mirrors, with resorts and mansions along their banks. This project was once again brought to light in 2024 by the Lagunar Marítimo Consortium, but no timeline has been set for it to resume.

Once again, in July 2020, during the worst phase of the coronavirus pandemic, the city’s Rio Águas Foundation technicians, escorted by the Municipal Guard riot squad and Military Police, delivered forced eviction notices with a 30-day deadline. The claim was that homes were occupying an environmentally sensitive zone. However, an injunction obtained through the Public Defenders’ Office prevented the residents’ removal.

Silvana Medeiros*, 53, mother of Antônio*, 15, shares the emotional and psychological impacts of the forced eviction notice and her concern about her son being home alone if anything might happen:

“No one has anywhere to go. So, that’s keeping everyone up at night, you know? It’s not like they asked, ‘Do you want a place to stay?’ No! So how do you leave home with your kids? Where do you go? To the streets? Impossible! I can’t pay rent, I don’t have a job—I’m self-employed. How am I supposed to handle this? Only my husband earns a salary, so I don’t think this is fair. And it’s not just me, it’s the whole community. They’re pressuring us to leave. It’s been hard for us, really, really hard. We don’t know what to do. Sometimes I go out to work and leave my son at home. Then I keep calling: ‘How’s everything over there? Did anyone come by? If anyone rings the doorbell, don’t answer it,’ because he’s underage, right? He can’t answer the door. ‘No, mom, everything’s OK.’ But how do you think I feel? My nerves are on edge! We sleep in fear. Every time the doorbell rings, I think, ‘Are they coming to take us away?’”

During Mayor Eduardo Paes‘ administration, which began in 2020, a process was launched allegedly aimed at regulating the real estate market within the UEP (Spatial Planning Unit) by establishing an environmental protection area called the Sertão Carioca APA (or the Vargens Conservation Unit). Although residents were enthusiastic about the prospect having an APA in their region, its boundaries were reduced by 40%, approximately 400 hectares, through Municipal Decree 49.695/21, without any scientific rationale offered.

Shortly after the APA’s creation, the mayor issued two decrees: No. 50.411, dated March 18, 2022, which established the boundaries of the protection area, increasing the APA’s surface area, and No. 50.412, also dated March 18, 2022, which defined its zoning regulations. Both decrees constitute urban policy measures that bypassed the municipal legislative body, in violation of items I, II, III, and IV of Article 2 of the City Statute.

Article 2 – Urban policy aims to regulate the full development of the social functions of the city and of urban property through the following general guidelines:

I – Guaranteeing the right to sustainable cities, understood as the right to urban land, housing, environmental sanitation, urban infrastructure, transportation and public services, employment, and leisure—for present and future generations;

II – Democratic management through the participation of the population and representative associations from various community sectors in the formulation, execution, and monitoring of urban development plans, programs, and projects;

III – Cooperation between governments, the private sector, and other sectors of society in the urbanization process, in accordance with social interests;

IV – Planning the development of cities, the spatial distribution of the population, and the municipality’s economic activities within its area of influence, in order to prevent and correct urban growth distortions and their negative effects on the environment.

Municipal Decree No. 50.412/22 allows, for instance, the construction of six-story buildings, with the possibility of increasing to eight or nine stories in areas deemed degraded. It also permits the isolated construction of houses or cluster-type developments on the hillsides of the Pedra Branca State Park, with licenses for deforestation and tree cutting.

In a meeting at the Recreio dos Bandeirantes Residents’ Association on June 18, 2022, Mayor Eduardo Paes announced he had approved a large development project involving land allotments and the construction of houses on the border of the Sertão Carioca APA. According to him, the area corresponds to half the size of the South Zone neighborhood of Leblon. However, this project did not obtain an environmental license from the Municipal Secretariat of the Environment, nor was its impact assessed by the State Environmental Institute (INEA), the state-level licensing agency, or by the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA), at the federal level.

Current Composition of Santa Luzia

The favela is currently located between the Pedra Branca State Park and the Portelo Canal in Rio de Janeiro’s West Zone, spanning the neighborhoods of Vargem Grande and Vargem Pequena. The community occupies a four-kilometer strip of land along the Portelo Canal. Santa Luzia has a single street, Rua Professor Silvio Elias, which cuts the community right down the middle. This street is divided into Side A, which is two kilometers long, and Side B, measuring 1.8 kilometers. The community is home to over 7,500 residents, 1,500 families, as well as the Santa Luzia Residents’ Association, positioned between the two sides.

The forced eviction aims to make way for the construction of an avenue along the Portelo Canal, in the area currently occupied by the favela. The plan is for this avenue to connect Rua Drumontina to Rua Benvindo de Novaes, running parallel to Estrada dos Bandeirantes.

According to residents, the only solution presented by City Hall was a social rent of R$400 [~US$66] for a period of three months—an insufficient and shameful amount, especially for a community that has been established for decades with a clearly documented history. All residents interviewed for this article agree that remaining in the community is the right path. However, in the event of expropriation, they demand compensation that reflects the value of the land and investments made in their land and buildings. This is what residents like Leonel Filho*, 40, who has lived in the community for ten years has to say:

“I’m feeling very uncomfortable. We bought the land, we built our homes, and now we’re at risk of losing everything we have. We have wives, small children. And all of a sudden, City Hall shows up, serving notices to everyone… Threatening to take us away, to demolish our homes in ten days. It’s really hard. There’s no guarantee we’ll get any compensation. We’re four people living in my house: me, my wife, my pregnant daughter, and my grandson… I think they should just legalize everything. They should do that and leave us alone. All we want is peace and calm. I’ve lived here for ten years, and I’ve spent everything I had on this place. I really think they should legalize the whole thing. We have the right to keep what’s ours. We didn’t occupy the land; we bought it, and I love it here. It’s a quiet, peaceful place. To me, this place means everything!”

Rose Batista*, 24, lives with her four-year-old daughter Isabel* and her partner, and shares her outrage over City Hall’s last attack against the Santa Luzia community:

“I think they should treat us like human beings and not just show up at your door with a notice and, bam: ‘You’ve lost your home,’ the one you built with so much sweat and struggle. Because, seriously, things are hard to come by for everyone here. So, when someone shows up and says, ‘You have ten days to take everything out,’ you really think that’s what’s going to happen… And in that moment all you can think is: ‘Where am I going?’ My things, my daughter, my home… It’s very sad. I think the least anyone here wants is another place to live, a chance to start over, from scratch. Even if it is from scratch, at least give a person the means of leaving their home behind. Not like: ‘Grab everything you’ve got and figure it out.’ Because that place is really all people have.”

Residents Seek Support from the Public Defenders’ Office

On January 13, around 60 residents gathered at Rio’s Public Defenders’ Land and Housing Nucleus (NUTH) with public defenders Luis Gustavo and Paloma Lamego. After the meeting, the mobilization proceeded towards the City Council, with the support of Councilor Rodrigo Vizeu, and was concluded with a closed meeting between Santa Luzia leaders and representatives from SEOP.

According to public defender Luis Gustavo, there is a municipal contradiction regarding the treatment and approach towards the area:

“The community was notified because there were, allegedly, structures built along the marginal protection area, which is indeed prohibited. However, since this is an area of special social interest, it is up to the municipality to relax the urban planning rules. It is pointless for the municipality to recognize the area as AEIS and then notify the entire community aiming to forcibly evict it, without offering any kind of housing solution. There are over 1,000 families. It is an area designated for housing disadvantaged people, an area in which the municipality can relax urban planning rules but does not do so. There is already a legal discussion underway, and the Public Defenders’ Office is monitoring it. Our intention is to have the community’s land rights recognized.”

All the residents of the Santa Luzia community wish for in the new year is dignity, a sentiment expressed through the words of resident Marta Oliveira*:

“We all have the right to a minimum level of dignity. The moment each resident receives a notice—’Leave your property in ten days and figure it out’—the most basic thing, dignity, is missing. Every four years, it’s the same story. ‘We’re going to take away the community, take it away, take it away,’ with the worst excuses possible. ‘The area needs to be expropriated due to environmental issues.’ Fine, bring us the report, the analysis that was done to prove the community can’t be here. Today, the favela is completely different because the residents themselves did what the public authorities failed to do [for affordable housing development]… now they show up wanting to forcibly evict families, some of whom have lived here for over 60 years, to build new properties. If I can’t live in this space for environmental reasons, why can they build apartment complexes in the same place? There are already over five luxury complexes here. So, if they remove the favela, they have to remove the luxury condos as well. This notice is completely incoherent: ‘Get out now.’ No! There’s no ‘getting out.’ We need to talk things over! The State has to protect us. They have to go to every single little house over there and talk to the owners, see what’s rightfully theirs: ‘You’ve lived here for so many years, your property is worth X, Y.’ It’s about organizing, not about making a mess.”