Drug user, harm reduction agent, psychologist and postdoctoral fellow in FCT/UNESP, P. Prudente Brazil - Geography Department. Process 2022/06741-1.

The number of homeless people is growing year after year in Latin American cities. In São Paulo, Brazil, in 1991, official data indicated 3,392 homeless people. In 2021, there were 31,884. This represents a tenfold increase in 30 years. In other cities in the region, the number of homeless people is currently alarming: Bogotá, Colombia - 9,538; Santiago, Chile - 8,780; Mexico City - 6,754. Due to the difficulty of counting, it is possible that these numbers are even higher, and aggravated by the historical economic, political and social inequalities that the colonial heritage left in Latin America. Multiple forms of violence are experienced by homeless people, and substance use often becomes an element present in the possible dynamics of survival that move between the legal and the illegal. These are people who end up living without intimacy, rest, space for love, privacy, acceptance, shelter, protection, autonomy, belonging and other benefits that access to housing can provide. In addition to contextualizing the reality of homelessness in Latin America, this work presents the possibilities, gains and limits of ‘Housing First’ strategies as a guarantee of rights and a perspective of care for homeless people who use drugs. The proposal is to guarantee access to housing without requiring psychiatric treatment, abstinence and sobriety. In addition to being a fundamental right legitimized by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights since 1948, access to housing can bring several benefits to individuals, the community and public administration. Based on an experience of the city government of São Paulo, Brazil, between 2014 and 2017, and autonomous experiences of current social movements, this work seek to foster the interface between housing, Harm Reduction and Urban Planning in a Latin American context, presenting ‘housing-first’ strategies as a possibility for care, community integration and guarantee of rights.