São Paulo's downtown area clearly displays the contradictions of our cities. On one hand, vacant properties sit idle in areas well-served by urban infrastructure; on the other, the number of people experiencing homelessness is growing, sheltered in tents and precarious, makeshift structures.
To address this, the Municipal Master Plan of São Paulo—a constitutionally mandated instrument for urban development and expansion policy—established the fight against property vacancy in 2014 as a strategy to guarantee the social function of urban property in the state capital. Although fundamental, the Master Plan itself does not establish a routine for identifying vacant properties within the urban space, a task that falls to the municipal administration.
