News

Affordable housing in Rio de Janeiro is in high demand for the city of twelve million. The city is dealing with a housing crisis daily, with about 220,000 people without a proper place to live. With the Olympics coming in 2016, real estate has become too expensive for many. Recently, several hundred squatters were evicted from a housing complex and forced to live back in the slums.

By Leanne Burden Seidel

A boy walks on a dirt road of the Terra Prometida, or Promised Land shantytown, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on Nov. 14. An estimated 220,000 Rio de Janeiro residents are trapped by the city’s chronic housing deficit. There are simply not enough affordable houses to meet demand in this city of 12 million
(Leo Correa/Associated Press)