Brazil is an upper-middle-income country (UMIC) with a population of >200 million people and has a robust public health system. The trajectory of Housing First in Brazil has been influenced by several factors, including the adoption—but limited implementation—of a national homelessness policy in 2009, followed by an increase in homelessness in the 2010s and 2020s (4). Because the 2009 policy was not operationalized at the federal level, municipal governments and civil society independently piloted Housing First–inspired approaches between 2015 and 2023, engaging in small-scale experimentation without federal coordination or financing. A major inflection point occurred in 2023, with the Arguição de Descumprimento de Preceito Fundamental 976 Supreme Court decision (5). This judicial mandate created the national plan Ruas Visíveis, which now serves as the operational instrument to enforce and update the 2009 policy through coordinated, interministerial action and structured monitoring across levels of government (6). In 2024, the Ministry of Human Rights and Citizenship introduced Moradia Cidadã, the first federal Housing First–based program; it included three pilot sites (Federal District, Rio de Janeiro, and Belo Horizonte) that were set to launch in 2025–2026. The initiative is supported by 14.9 million Brazilian reais (BRL) in combined funding streams from the federal government, as well as local contributions. In parallel, five previously existing Housing First–inspired initiatives received targeted federal infrastructure support starting in 2024. Together, these developments signal a transition from locally driven experimentation to a coordinated federal implementation effort.
Implementing Housing First in Brazil: A National Survey of Existing Programs
Psychiatric Services
Year: 2026