Chilean families resist eviction in Valparaiso: Video
Hundreds of residents of the San Antonio informal settlement in Chile’s Valparaiso region clashed with riot police on Monday, January 12, to resist eviction from land owned by Inmobiliaria San Antonio S.A.
Around 2,000 families are at risk of losing their homes. Many residents say occupying the land is a desperate response to the country’s housing shortage. “We have to have housing. Just as the State does not give us housing, we have to take it. But the rich have everything fenced in this country,” said local resident Marco Aurelio Gonzalez.
The government and landowners had attempted to negotiate a solution that would allow part of the land to be developed for formal housing cooperatives. While 100 hectares were set aside for this project, the remaining 115 hectares remain subject to eviction orders.
Chile’s high housing costs and shortage of affordable homes have led many low-income citizens to occupy public or private land, creating large informal settlements known as tomas. According to Techo Chile, 2024 figures show 1,428 such settlements nationwide, housing over 120,000 families, or nearly half a million people.
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