Thank you for a poignant and authentic story. I was in Porto last fall for the first time, and as a tourist (but spouse of a Portuguese woman), I loved it, and also saw the strain that the city is under - both decaying and modernizing for visitors, not citizens. Your perspective is so compelling.

I would add, homeless people do tend to congregate in cities like Porto around the world, with a mild climate and a lot of tourists - Paris, San Francisco, Vancouver. The migrate because these cities are often good places to be homeless - just the opposite of what it seems. It’s not the cities that have a problem. Their tolerance and the generosity make them suitable places for those who, for many and varied reasons, are homeless.