Novo Horizonte occupation: articulation between the Defensoria Pública da União and social movements to implement the right to housing

Abstract

Prepared collectively, this article sought to analyze the benefits of a partnership between organized civil society and the Federal Public Defender’s Office (DPU), to implement the right to housing during the COVID-19 pandemic. To do so, the researchers  carried out a descriptive, bibliographical research using the hypothetical-inductive method, as well as field research to collect data at the Novo Horizonte Occupation, in Campos dos Goytacazes, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Such methodology allowed us to describe: the Occupation and the need to suspend evictions during the pandemic; the Judiciary Branch and the legal-political disputes against evictions and DPU’s role in social movements. These assumptions revealed that the articulation between social movements and the DPU is necessary for access to justice, for the applicability of norms – with analysis and consideration of social inequalities and vulnerabilities –, as well as to ensure human rights and the right to decent, safe, and adequate housing.