Abstract
The number of people living in the streets of São Paulo and Brazil has been steadily increasing; a phenomenon that was before located in large urban centers, can be currently observed in several cities. This paper discusses the work in Social Assistance with homeless people, based on the praxis of the intercessor-worker, explaining the singularities of subjects and their territory. There is an absence of researches conducted by workers and a prevalence of papers that approach the life aspects of this population: who they are, how they live, and how they are seen. The objective was to critically analyze the reality in which the Social Assistance services are being implemented and propose ways of treating subjects, considering their subjectivity, so they get better situated in relation to the complex situation they live, and build access to social rights. In order to do so, the Intercessor Device (ID) was used, a modality of action that allows us to think and construct ways of acting and interceding in the reality of subjects and institutions, as well as produce knowledge and unconscious knowledge from this action. It is observed that the position of the worker in front of the demands and his theoretical and technical instruments, ID, make the difference in the analysis of the social context, in the approach of the complexity of the cases and in the construction of paths that allow subjects to access social rights. Although such rights are already guaranteed by law, it is verified that, in many cases, access to them must be effectively constructed, which demands intercessions between the subjects and the territorial services.
Social Assistance; Homeless; Intercessor Device; Single Social Assistance System; Praxis