São Paulo opens shelter for Haiti refugees

A shelter with room for 120 people has opened its doors for Haitian refugees in the city of São Paulo. The institution works in cooperation with a catholic church, located downtown, which has housed over 550 Haitians since another home was shut down in the northern state of Acre.

The new shelter belongs to a private company and will serve as an emergency shelter for three months only, the period agreed for the lease with the city government. According to São Paulo Mayor Fernando Haddad, the problem faced by the city is not taking the refugees, “but carrying out previous bureaucratic measures, so they arrive in possession of [all the necessary] documents, like their Worker’s Record Books. Many come into the country with no documents.”

According to the mayor, the Haitians have found their place in São Paulo's labor market. Four hundred of the refugees in the city are now employed. “As the economy is still dynamic, companies are hiring. Last year, the city of São Paulo took in 2.6 thousand Haitians. The arrival of immigrants is no novelty. What’s new to us is the increase in their influx over the last weeks,” he noted.

Haddad further said he will attempt to reach an agreement with the state government of Acre so as to prevent the unexpected arrival of Haitians in São Paulo. “It’s all a matter of planning, with a view to drawing up a common strategy so that none of the parties involved is taken by surprise,” he explained.

Translated by Fabrício Ferreira