As Belém prepares to host the Cop30 climate summit in November, residents are being evicted from their homes as landlords convert properties into short-term rentals for the 50,000 expected delegates. Suelen Freitas and her family were given 30 days to vacate their two-bedroom apartment in March, along with 11 other families in the building. The owner plans to rent the flats to summit attendees at inflated prices.
Freitas, who moved into the apartment in 2020, described the eviction as “very painful.” Her husband, an Uber driver, spent weeks searching for a new home but found landlords unwilling to rent to locals. “Is it for Cop? No? Then we’re not renting to you,” he was told repeatedly.
The housing crisis in Belém predates the summit, with the city already facing a shortage and the second-highest rental costs in Brazil. Priscilla Santos, co-founder of the Rede Amazônidas pelo Clima thinktank, blames large real estate companies for triggering the lodging crisis. “They immediately moved to secure exclusive deals with high-end property owners and promised to rent them out to foreigners at outrageous prices,” she said.
Local government has promoted Cop30 as a money-making opportunity, with promotional material encouraging residents to “take advantage of this great opportunity to earn even more.” Landlords have responded by favouring short-term rentals, leaving tenants like Giovana Silva, who is pregnant, in difficult positions. Silva agreed to vacate her three-bedroom house in November in exchange for a fraction of the landlord’s expected profits, but renovation work dragged on for months, confining her to her bedroom.
Despite the challenges, many residents still want to host the summit. Santos argues that the event has already raised awareness of climate change among ordinary people. “The lady who cleans my house, who months ago confused Cop with the football World Cup, now understands what climate change is,” she said.
