Providing temporary shelters in impending winter for Venezuelan refugees in Chile

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

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.