HOMELESS POPULATION AND WORK: THE PERVERSE FACE OF CONTEMPORARY LABOR REFORM

Abstract

Objective: To analyze how institutional changes associated with Brazilian labor reform are linked to labor precarization and barriers to employment faced by the homeless population. Method: A qualitative bibliographic and documentary study guided by historical-dialectical materialism, examining Law No. 13,467/2017, public regulations and documents, Continuous National Household Sample Survey indicators, estimates from the Institute for Applied Economic Research, and scientific literature on work, social unprotection, and homelessness. Results: The decline in unemployment did not eliminate high informality: in 2024, 39.0% of employed people remained in informal arrangements. The estimated homeless population increased from 101,854 in 2015 to 281,472 in 2022. Without claiming direct causality, the findings indicate that contractual flexibility, individualized risks, and weak contributory protection intensify pre-existing disadvantages. Conclusion: Employment, income, housing, and social protection should form an integrated public strategy guided by decent work and by overcoming adaptation to precariousness.