Temporary Housing

Migratory peasants generally do not have the time and money to build a house that adequately protects them from the environment, so they construct temporary housing, which is often nothing more than a shack made from refuse. Cochabamba and Sucre had high numbers of refuse housing (41 and 44 percent, respectively), which are readily infested. Peasants invest little in shacks built on land that they do not own, may be evicted from, and are unable to sell. Outside of Cochabamba, peasants objected to participating in a housing‑improvement program because they believed that once their houses were improved they would be confiscated and sold to someone else.

Peasants sometimes sleep in temporary shelters closer to their fields, which are becoming increasingly distant from their homes as traditional farming lands become barren. Peasants in these areas rapidly put together lean‑tos of thatch and branches where they spend nights guarding their fields. This presents an additional problem: the peasant’s main house may be vinchuca‑ proofed, but peasants remain at risk when they sleep in the fields.

The displacement of rural people is a growing social concern throughout Latin America. It has been brought about by overpopulation, depletion of natural resources, growth of corporations, and demand for mobile work forces. Migrating peasants essentially become foragers and gatherers. Frequent dislocation requires that they construct homes with available materials and that they invest little in nonmoveable property.[42]