Residents of Quinta dos Ingleses have to leave. The area will give way to luxury homes, hotels and an urban park

Those who live there are divided between those who already have a “plan B” and the others, those who are desperate, with no income or place to go. “We are looking at leasing a piece of land, me and five other people from here. We are going to rent this land”, says Andreia Costa, 50 years old, carpenter and cleaning worker at a local accommodation.

“We are looking at a rent of between 350 and 500 euros, to be shared among everyone. Two of the plots that we have been looking at are in Sintra; the other is a little further away, in Odivelas. I don’t know if we’ll keep this one because it’s far from our work.”

Andreia Costa and Márcia Maju, 44 years old, cook, were the authors of this “plan B”. They were the ones who had the idea of ​​renting land where they could set up tents and place trailers, without running the risk of having to leave. And they invited some of their neighbors to go with them. “We are going to take our ‘mascot’. He is desperate, you can see the fright on his face”, says Andreia, referring to Ricardo Oliveira, 58 years old.

Ricardo worked in gardening. Now he only receives the Social Insertion Income (RSI). “I haven’t been able to find a job for a long time. I think it must have to do with my age but also because I don’t have a driving license, which is something they ask for everything now”, explains the man, with a sad look.

“I have lived in the municipality of Cascais since I was born. My family passed away and the landlady evicted me”, shares Ricardo. “I don’t know what will happen to me, I have nowhere to go and with this income I don’t have money to pay rent”.

Ricardo Oliveira applied to the Cascais municipal council to obtain social housing. “I have been registered for a long time but I discovered that they canceled all the registrations that were made for social housing. Now we have to do the whole process again, I already have all the papers to submit again.” He is left with the solidarity of his neighbors who guarantee that they will not “leave him behind”.

In another trailer lives Rogério Gonçalves, 60 years old. “I’m from Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais. Here I am a caregiver for the elderly but in Brazil I am a Physical Education teacher.” Rogério is a kind of nomad. “I’m on leave, working there. Generally I come, stay for two years, return to Brazil. I’ve also been to France and Switzerland.”

The professor lived in a room but ended up at Quinta dos Ingleses because of his dog. “I ended up here because of the dog. She lived in a room and they authorized me to buy the dog. But I noticed that she was getting scared of the people in the house. I moved to Barreiro but it was very far from work. I bought the trailer and came here in August last year”. Now that you have to leave, think about a solution. “I’m going with the trailer to a campsite. Then I will have to pay, it will be more difficult, but I have to find a way.”