Region: Americas
Country: Chile
Year: 2022
Shelter: RHU
Project size: 0-50
Modality: Temporary shelter
Sector: Shelter
Partner: United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
Support: Capacity Building
Providing temporary shelters in impending winter for Venezuelan refugees in Chile
By 2022, the Venezuelan refugee situation was still affecting much of Latin America. Chile hosts the fourth highest number of Venezuelan refugees, totaling over 450,000 having arrived since 2016.
In the far north of Chile, on the peripheries of the city of Iquique, UNHCR donated 42 RHUs to shelter the Venezuelan refugees arriving overland from Bolivia and Peru.
The RHUs were installed to expand on the sheltering capacity in the country, addressing immediate access to housing as the primary issue for refugees upon arrival in their host country. The RHUs provide the refugees with the opportunity to establish a footing in their new host country, until their transition to a permanent home.
The installation of the RHUs came at a particularly strategic point during the seasonal shift in the Southern Hemisphere, as shelters are critical to the support of displaced populations in the cold winter months.
On the outskirts of the northern Chilean city of Iquique, 42 Refugee Housing Units were being reading for use as temporary shelters for Venezuelan refugees and migrants entering the country overland from Bolivia and Peru. Donated to the Chilean government by UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, the RHUs are aimed at meeting one of the most basic and immediate needs of those who have made the arduous overland journey to the Southern Cone nation - housing. Temporary shelters allow Venezuelan refugees and migrants a safe space to find their feet after first arriving in their new host country. Such spaces are particularly crucial during the southern hemisphere winters, when temperatures can be bitingly cold and unlike anything that many from tropical Venezuela have ever experienced. ; Hard-hit by COVID-19 restrictions, many Venezuelan refugees and migrants who left their country years ago find themselves on the road once again, seeking safety and stability in a second or even third host country. Many who had initially put down roots in Ecuador or Peru have struck out for Chile, attracted by better job prospects. They make the dangrous journey overland, crossing into Chile from Bolivia at a frigid Andean pass, some 4,000 meters above sea level. Many then continue their south-bound journey to the capital, Santiago.
On the outskirts of the northern Chilean city of Iquique, 42 Refugee Housing Units were being reading for use as temporary shelters for Venezuelan refugees and migrants entering the country overland from Bolivia and Peru. Donated to the Chilean government by UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, the RHUs are aimed at meeting one of the most basic and immediate needs of those who have made the arduous overland journey to the Southern Cone nation - housing. Temporary shelters allow Venezuelan refugees and migrants a safe space to find their feet after first arriving in their new host country. Such spaces are particularly crucial during the southern hemisphere winters, when temperatures can be bitingly cold and unlike anything that many from tropical Venezuela have ever experienced. ; Hard-hit by COVID-19 restrictions, many Venezuelan refugees and migrants who left their country years ago find themselves on the road once again, seeking safety and stability in a second or even third host country. Many who had initially put down roots in Ecuador or Peru have struck out for Chile, attracted by better job prospects. They make the dangrous journey overland, crossing into Chile from Bolivia at a frigid Andean pass, some 4,000 meters above sea level. Many then continue their south-bound journey to the capital, Santiago.
