Fortaleza, Brazil: All 26 Public Homeless Shelters Overcrowded

On April 3, 2013, Diário do Nordeste did a special report about the overcrowding of homeless shelters in Fortaleza, the capital city of the state of Ceará.  It covers the story of a two-year old girl, abandoned by her mother, in which neighbors take the child to a homeless shelter.  City authorities currently are unable to care for the child:  following population estimates, the city would need 130 shelters to properly care for Fortaleza’s homeless.  Local officials are working with authorities from the state of Ceará to address the problem, but in the short term, public shelters must begin to turn families with children away, which has already caused outrage throughout the city.  Read Article