The struggle against forced evictions: The Hub for Housing Justice visits Brazil
Forced evictions constitute “a gross violation of human rights” (PDF) and continue to be one of the most dramatic manifestations of housing inequalities and exclusion. Across the world, civil society coalitions are mobilising evidence and developing different legal and political tactics to effectively stop forced evictions and advance housing justice.
In March 2026, representatives from Hub for Housing Justice partners visited São Paulo, Brazil, to learn from the anti-evictions efforts of the Zero Evictions Campaign (Campanha Despejo Zero – website in Portuguese). This national civil society coalition emerged in Brazil during the COVID-19 pandemic to stop forced evictions. Five years on, the campaign offers valuable lessons on how to use grounded evidence to draft impactful advocacy strategies and influence policy that advances housing justice.
The trip featured visits to buildings and neighbourhoods where residents and social movements have been resisting discrimination and housing injustices, proposing community-driven alternatives to displacement. Partners also participated in a one-day workshop that delved deeper into lessons on different approaches across countries to stop forced evictions and to strengthen civil society’s capacity to use grounded evidence, influence policy, and advance housing justice. In addition to analysing the Brazilian context, the discussions explored the use of data to combat narratives of criminalization in informal settlements in Kenya; coordinating political and legal advocacy in India; or strengthening resistance tactics and building solidarity across housing movements in the Middle East.
A public seminar organised as part of the visit demonstrated the connections across local struggles for housing justice, reflecting on the national and international context of the processes driving evictions, as well as on the different forms of resistance to evictions in Brazil and around the world. The recording of the seminar is available online.
“I have seen resilience like I have never seen before. How people organise; how they articulate their issues; and how they stand for what they believe in,” said Joseph Kimani from Slum Dwellers International, when reflecting on his days in São Paulo. “Numbers count, and when people are united they don’t lose, they are listened to. And I think that is what resistance is about. It is about showing up and speaking up.”
The visit was part of the research project “Strengthening knowledge systems for housing justice: Lessons from civil society coalitions against evictions,” a collaboration between the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), Instituto Pólis, and social movements in Brazil including União dos Movimentos por Moradia. The project was funded by the British Academy. Hub partners who participated in the visit included the Global Platform for the Right to the City, the Habitat International Coalition (HIC), the Housing Justice Network, the Indian Institute for Human Settlements (IIHS), and Slum Dwellers International (SDI).