[1] Since 2005, the city hall has shut down bars and hotels associated with drug distribution and prostitution, displaced homeless people, and increased police presence with the intent to inhibit drug use in Cracolândia.
Hundreds of buildings were designated as public utility in a 1.1 million square foot area, and were expropriated.
In 2007, the São Paulo city hall launched a program named Nova Luz (New Light in Portuguese, referring to the broader region around Luz Station) in order to promote the execution of the planned changes to the region.
[2] Critics of this program, however, claimed it to have a basis on social hygiene movements, highlighting that the renovations in buildings, parks, and streets were not accompanied by assistance towards the vulnerable groups who inhabit or work in the region, who are being effectively removed.
The homeless are displaced, trash collectors have their job put in jeopardy, and crack users and dependents are left without a place to gather, being left to wander adjacent and otherwise nearby neighborhoods.