As the Brazilian city of Belém prepares to host the Cop30 climate summit in November, its housing crisis is deepening. With an expected 50,000 delegates and a chronic shortage of hotel rooms, private homes have become a target for short-term rentals. Residents say they are being pushed out as landlords chase once-in-a-lifetime profits.
Suelen Freitas and her family were given 30 days to leave their two-bedroom apartment in March, along with 11 other families in the building. The owner planned to convert all flats into short-term lets for the summit. 'It was very painful,' Freitas said. Her husband, an Uber driver, spent weeks looking for a new home, only to be repeatedly told that rentals were reserved for Cop visitors.
Priscilla Santos, co-founder of the thinktank Rede Amazônidas pelo Clima, described the event as 'the cherry on top' of a housing shortage that already had the country's second-highest rental costs. She accused large real estate companies of securing exclusive deals with property owners and offering rooms to foreigners 'at outrageous prices'. Local authorities promoted the summit as a money-making opportunity, with materials encouraging residents to 'take advantage of this great opportunity to earn even more'.
Giovana Silva, who is pregnant, was offered about a tenth of the landlord's expected Cop30 profits to vacate her three-bedroom house in November. Remodelling work that was meant to last a week dragged on for nearly three months, confining the couple to their bedroom. 'It's much too little money for such a heavy burden,' she said.
Despite the upheaval, residents remain adamant that they want to host the summit. Santos argued that Cop30 is more than symbolic: 'We need people to come here and see the Amazon for what it really is, beyond exotified or romanticised notions.' She noted a silver lining: the climate crisis has become a common topic of conversation, with even her cleaner now understanding the event's global importance.
