In short, the main lesson of this innovative experiment in Porto Alegre questions the understanding of many left-inspired actions 'supporting the poor': after idealising humans' capacity to (rationally) act in political fields when poverty is so dire and unequal relations are so blatantly visible, these are illusions of social transformation when individuals are not emancipated in any sphere of life, either in their educational background or in their material conditions of living, let alone their political worldviews.