Cascais Câmara began demolishing part of the town’s notorious Bairro Fim do Mundo (End of the World) shanty community last week.
Workers from the Câmara began by destroying 13 makeshift homes (barracas) on January 22 causing protests from 26 local inhabitants claiming they were being made homeless.
Manuel Andrade, Housing Officer at Cascais Câmara, said that certain residents who lived alone and who didn’t have structured families and had arrived at a later date to the Bairro Fim do Mundo “couldn’t be housed and were the responsibility of the government”.
The Câmara executive officer insisted that those people could apply to the Urban Rehabilitation and Housing Institute (Instituto de Habitação e Reabilitação Urbana – IHRU) where “they can get help in paying their rent of up to 400 euros a month”.
A spokeswoman from the Immigrant Solidarity Association (Associação de Solidariedade Imigrante) said that 26 people had become homeless of which one was an elderly and sick resident.
Manuel Andrade confirmed that the Câmara intended to completely eradicate the Bairro Fim do Mundo by May 2009 and that by February 15 another 24 barracas would be bulldozed.
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