Ryan Gustavo, 12, rests on an improvised sofa made of mattresses in the living room of his home. He lives with his mother and sister in a two-room house built with pieces of reclaimed wood, reflecting the improvised solutions adopted by families facing the housing crisis.

An improvised bathroom inside one of the houses in Parque dos Lagos community. The lack of access to sanitation forces residents to adapt their homes to meet basic needs in an attempt to make the space habitable.

Sandra Mara Siqueira rests on the bed with her grandchildren in the home where they have lived for 13 years, in the Parque dos Lagos settlement. Her greatest dream is to see the area regularized so that the family can make improvements to their home and finally have regular access to water and electricity, basic rights still lacking in the community.

Ryan Gustavo, 12, prepares breakfast at his home. “My dream is to become a cook and have a better home to live in with my mother and sister,” Ryan says.

Marcos Gaudino Pereira, 50, with his granddaughter at the entrance of their home. He lives with his wife, Sandra, and their three grandchildren in the Parque dos Lagos occupation, in the city of Colombo. Difficulty paying rent led the family to seek housing in the community.

A car abandoned with in the community, surrounded by discarded objects and debris, highlights the neglect and precarious conditions that characterize the territory.

Residents of the Parque dos Lagos community gather in a shared space within the occupation, which is home to hundreds of families seeking the right to housing. The absence of community and recreational areas reflects the structural limitations of the territory.

Children living in the occupation grow up without access to adequate housing, safety, and basic infrastructure. They play in an improvised space, revealing the inequality that affects so many children and young people in Brazil.

A boy flies a kite in an overgrown field within the Parque dos Lagos occupation. In the absence of basic infrastructure, children play in precarious environments, revealing resilience and the search for normalcy within the settlement.