In order to review the Master Plan for Fortaleza (Ceará) and strengthen its institutional organization, the Front for the Housing Struggle (Frente de Luta por Moradia: FLM) received funding from CESE, through its Small Projects Programme. The Master Plan is an urban planning instrument adopted by the municipal government. The FLM aims to guarantee grassroots participation in this process, which, according to the Constitution, should be broadly democratic, but is often conducted without proper consultation.
The FLM emerged in 2014 in response to family evictions caused by the Light Rail Vehicle (VLT) works carried out for the World Cup. Since then, it has consolidated its fight for the right to housing and to the city, seeking to strengthen social movements that share its agenda.
Laíssa Limeira, a geographer and member of the FLM’s Executive Secretariat, explained that the organization adopts a model of collective governance, through which its principal decisions are taken at ordinary meetings in which everyone participates: “The Secretariat, made up of five members, is responsible for taking forward the group’s activities and decisions. For more practical things, a smaller number of people works better, but we always listen to everyone’s ideas.”