All images © Kevin Moloney


A new arrival to Rio’s Fazenda Modelo — Model Farm in Portuguese — takes a mattress into a dorm to find sleeping place among over 1,500 others at the homeless shelter.



João Lopes da Silva, 69, receives a shave at the barbershop at the Fazenda Modelo in Rio de Janeiro. Residents of the open shelter are provided with services often performed by fellow residents. Work is used as therapy to rescue self-esteem and assist in chemical addiction treatment.



Left idle when work and educational programs on the farm are scarce, residents of the Fazenda Modelo relax in the sun along a street in the more than 100-acre complex, while boys shoot soccer balls at a wall nearby. Though residents are free to leave the shelter, it is a nearly 70-kilometer trek back to the city streets.



A resident of Rio’s Fazenda Modelo waters a small agricultural field at the homeless shelter. Many who successfully leave the shelter go on to agricultural jobs in the rural area outside of Rio.



A group of residents gather in the reception hall where new arrivals amass after the bus ride from the city. A sign on the wall reminds them to respect the rules, themselves and their neighbors.


All images © Kevin Moloney

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