Inmigrantes en campamentos en Chile: ¿mecanismo de integración o efecto de exclusión?

Abstract

Chile is once again facing an increased number of households living in informal settlements in the peripheries of main cities. However, this time the phenomenon does not only refer to non-paying lodgers, but also households who have experienced increased housing costs and high rates of Latin American immigrant population. This paper explores possible causal factors such as a socio-economically exclusionary land and housing market that leaves substandard renting as the only ‘formal’ option available for the poor but one that is unsustainable for the most vulnerable population. Urban informality is also seen as a grey area where public policies, the denial of social rights and geographies of opportunities are confronted in contrast to previous ideas of informal settlements as a way to obtain state benefits in Chile. This paper presents and analyses disaggregated data from the 2017 CIS TECHO-Chile national survey of informal settlements and delivers a qualitative analysis on settlements in the city of Antofagasta, north Chile, a city with a growing number of informal settlements.