Empty old hotels. A debt ofbillions of reais in taxes. Cockroaches and pigeons living and reproducing indirty abandoned rooms. This is the scenario when homeless people first arrivein a bare hotel in the center of Sao Paulo city. On the 8th of June, forstudying reasons of one subject from college, a research field was organized tosee how these residents arrange themselves in terms of water and energy supply,negotiations with the government, silence, cleaning and get to know, a littlebit, their ideologies, purposes and routine. At 9am the group of students metin front of one the most famous museums in Sao Paulo city: the Pinacoteca.Besides the two occupied buildings we were going to visit, we also would try toanalyze features of the city space delimited for the Projeto Nova Luz, which would demolish many buildings in a biggerurbanization program. Therefore, we walked throughout the center of the cityand the first occupied building we visited is known as Ocupacao Maua, and stays right in front the train and metro LuzStation, at Maua Street. Mr. Nelson, or just, Seu Nelson, an old black man whoreceived us, talked about how important it is for the 237 families who live there,to stay in a place where there are several services offerings and publictransportation, even though they are, mostly, in 4 or 5 people in one smallroom without a private bathroom. Most of them dont have a formal job,consequently, no regular income; nor are they homeowners. To live in one of the abandoned Santos DumontHotel, you need to respect some rules: you cant be noisy, exceed thefive-minute shower is not tolerated, women must be respected, a professionaloccupation is required, as well as a certain limit of income. Drug traffic anduse is also a serious cause of expulsion. The second occupied buildingwe visited was the Palace Hotel, abandoned since the 80s. Its owner lives inSwitzerland and has a debt in taxes for over thirty years, approximately.Nazareth, one of the residents who received us, is an artist who created anatelie and promotes soirees among the other residents, children and homeless,in which they read the poems they write themselves; besides, one room hasseveral chairs and a projector, where they have movie sessions. Only 80families live at the Ocupacao Sao Joao, thus more organized and clean thebuilding is, and, even though each room has its own toilet, the shower is forcommon use. Both Nazareth and Seu Nelson coordinatethe occupations and, although they have similar aims and fight for the samecause, they belong to different movements. Their intents though, are the same.In the center of Sao Paulo there are thousands of abandoned residences. Theseempty spaces, mostly, are old closed-door hotels, whose owners dont pay thetaxes and, at the same time, dont intend to sell their property nor open newbusinesses, turning them into dead spaces. Simultaneously, thousands of peoplelive in the outskirts, taking, sometimes, more than 3 hours to arrive to theirwork and, in other situations, either living under bridges or in slums withoutbasic and sanitarian conditions.These people are fighting fortheir right to housing, constitutionally guaranteed, at the same time there arepotential residences downtown,