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After one year and fourth months living under plastic sheeting in very basic living conditions, the provision of new homes for the Alagoas flood victims have been accompanied with what were previously unstated financial compromises.  Now close to completion, the new housing units are only being allocated to those who are willing to pay 20 percent of their monthly salary (or R$ 50 for those earning up to one times the Brazilian minimum wage of R$ 545) – despite being promised as donations when the floods happened.

As a result, the programme – being financed under the Minha Casa, Minha Vida [My House, My Life] and administered by the Caixa Econômica Federal – is currently being campaigned against.  According Luciene de Lima Ferreira, a resident in Rio Largo shelter camp which was mounted shortly after the disaster: “When we signed a lot of paper, which they did not let us read, we were told that the housing would be provided for free.  Now, after so much suffering, we have this situation.” Secretary of social assistance in the Rio Largo region Dione Moura commented in the same article: “This is absurd – President Lula said to this very community in front of everyone that no one was going to pay for houses.”  Moura pointed to the lack of clarity with regards to the administration of the units as well as the subsequent emergence of other associated charges (such as the ITBI property transfer tax) which are beyond the financial means of those who were worse affected.

The Alagoas Jornal itself reported on the year anniversary that state vice governor José Thomaz Nonô and governor Teotonio Vilela Filho attempted to negotiate with the Caixa Econômica Federal arguing that those affected by the floods should be treated in a different way.  However, as confirmed in a press note, the state bank decided to subsequently maintain their position.  Meanwhile, those still living in the shelter camps are refusing to pay and are seeking a response from President Dilma Rousseff.