On Monday, Brazilian President Lula da Silva received dozens of homeless people at the Government headquarters and announced an extensive support plan for them.
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"Through this palace, princes, queens, presidents, and businessmen have passed, but it has seldom been open for the participation of the most suffering people, who don't even have a place to sleep," Lula said, referring to a situation that affects around 236,000 people.
He attributed "the blame" for this reality to "a State that has not dedicated itself to taking care of the poorest."
The Workers' Party leader pledged to address this issue and added that it is also necessary to "change the mentality" of those who "walk far away or look the other way when they see homeless people."
The homeless population program includes various initiatives in the areas of health, food security, education, employment, and, above all, housing, considered one of the most challenging issues to be solved in the short term.
The text reads, "President Lula da Silva participates in the launch of the Visible Streets National Plan. Father Julio Lancellotti was moved and gave a beautiful speech: 'You are our President, you look at us and defend us. When the homeless people look at you, sir President, they say: that is our president. He thinks of us, loves us, and defends us."
Endowed with around US$204 million, the plan proposes collaborative efforts with regional and municipal governments, universities, and social movements already dedicated to assisting the homeless.
In the case of housing, the plan aims to facilitate access to popular residence programs that the Federal government already executes, but initially, there will be support to expand the number of municipal shelters.
The event included the participation of Catholic priest Julio Lancellotti, who cares for people living on the streets in Sao Paulo, a city that houses almost a quarter of the country's homeless population.
In homage to the decades-long work he has been doing, Congress named a law after him that prohibits "hostile" architecture to the homeless throughout Brazil. The law was regulated by the government in the same ceremony where the new assistance program was announced.