Contradictions in the organization of the housing space of favela in São Paulo

Abstract This article analyzes the contradictions in the housing space organization in a favela of Sao Paulo. I carried out ethnographic fieldwork with 18 months of participant observation, 21 interviews with residents and local workers, and 26 testimonials of the memorial project. In an attempt to make sense and understand this urban social phenomenon, I divided the data into two categories and 16 subcategories, carrying out the analysis based on grounded theory. Considering the spatiotemporal epistemology associated with the theory of organizing, I conclude that in the organization of the favela’s housing space, the social struggle for housing coexists with practices like those of a real estate market, although adapted to the reality of the favela. These two phenomena are simultaneously in conflict and nourish each other, making it complex the fulfillment of the right to housing.