Brazil’s federal government has temporarily relaxed access rules for two of its main welfare programs for people who live alone, after a court agreement acknowledged that the state’s social assistance network lacked the capacity to carry out mandatory home interviews at scale.
Under the agreement, signed by the National Social Security Institute, known as INSS, the Ministry of Development and Social Assistance, and the Federal Public Defender’s Office, one-person households seeking the BPC disability and elderly benefit or Bolsa Familia will not be blocked from registration, benefit approval, registry updates or benefit maintenance solely because they have not had a home interview recorded in CadUnico, Brazil’s national social benefits registry.
The change applies until July 1, 2027. During that period, interviews may continue to take place in person at local social assistance offices, including Cras centers, which are the main municipal entry point for low-income families seeking federal benefits.
The agreement modifies the practical effect of a 2024 law that made home visits mandatory for one-person households. That rule was introduced after a sharp rise in single-person registrations in CadUnico during the 2022 election year. According to Folha de S.Paulo, the number of one-person households in the registry rose from 1.8 million in December 2018 to 5.5 million in October 2022, a 197 percent increase, while other household registrations grew 21 percent over the same period.
The government says the temporary waiver does not remove the obligation to provide an address. All families must still report a place of residence under CadUnico rules. What is being suspended is the requirement that an interview at that residence serve as a condition for access to assistance.
Home registration will remain the preferred option for people with reduced mobility or difficulty reaching a public office. It will also remain mandatory for new Bolsa Familia inclusions and for families under registry review or flagged for possible irregularities through government database checks.
From July 2027, the home interview requirement is due to return for Bolsa Familia registry updates and for people seeking to enter or update records linked to the BPC.
The Ministry of Development and Social Assistance said the measure reflects operational limits in the welfare system. Brazil currently has about 78,000 CadUnico interviewers and operators. Between January 2025 and July 2026, roughly 8 million one-person households were added to or updated in the registry, and 45 percent of those procedures involved home interviews.
Rômulo Saraiva, a social security lawyer and Folha columnist, said the old requirement slowed benefit approvals because many administrative cases remained stalled while applicants waited for a visit. He argued that fraud risks still need to be addressed, but through mechanisms that match the state’s actual capacity.
The BPC, or Continuous Cash Benefit, is paid by INSS to people over 65 and people with disabilities who belong to low-income families. Eligibility requires CadUnico registration and per-person household income of up to one-quarter of the minimum wage. The benefit pays up to one monthly minimum wage and is reviewed every two years.
Bolsa Familia is Brazil’s flagship cash-transfer program for poor families registered in CadUnico, with eligibility generally limited to households earning up to R$218 per person. The minimum payment is R$600, with supplements for young children, students, breastfeeding mothers and pregnant women. Families must also comply with health and school-attendance conditions.
This article is based on single-source reporting from Folha de S.Paulo.