Day 5

Sr João Carneiro Soares visited us in the morning. He knew the project since its inception and even called the phone booth in front of our house! We talked about the available offer for transitory inhabitants of the city - such as monthly schemes in hotels and the possibility of staying in hostels. All of these are costly and often mean lack of privacy or dignity. He told us that in the 60's many people lived in small scale informal hotels often for months and even years, in Porto. Another option was the famous "island", informal settlements built in the interior of housing blocks that were usually governed by an anonymous person - not the owner - and rented at very affordable prices. These usually had one toilet to be shared by all the residents of the "island".

Later in the day we had a visit from a Romanian immigrant who told us that he lives in a house where each room is shared by 5 people. Two beds are to be shared between the five, and each person pays 35€/month. He did not want us to take a picture of him.