ABSTRACT:
Migrants living in informal settlements face overlapping health and environmental vulnerabilities shaped by exclusion from formal housing, citizenship regimes, and essential services [1,2]. Research has shown that informal settlements are associated with heightened health risks due to inadequate infrastructure, environmental exposure, and climate-related stressors, particularly in low- and middle-income countries [3–5]. Un Nuevo Amanecer, a squatter settlement located on a former landfill at the outskirts of Santiago, Chile, illustrates these dynamics. Rising housing costs and precarious labor conditions have pushed migrants to self-construct housing on marginal land with limited state oversight, reproducing patterns of urban exclusion documented in Chile and beyond [1,6]. This qualitative study examines how residents experience and respond to health and infrastructure challenges through community-based strategies. Drawing on long-term, community-engaged research, data were collected through 17 in-depth interviews and one focus group (n=5) with 19 participants recruited via snowball sampling. Interviews explored settlement trajectories, access to services, waste exposure, food insecurity, and coping strategies. Findings reveal persistent challenges—including irregular water access, inadequate sanitation, waste accumulation, and power outages—that compromise hygiene, food safety, and overall well-being, echoing prior research on health impacts in informal urban contexts [3–5]. Despite these constraints, residents developed grassroots responses, including informal water systems, collective waste management, and mutual aid networks. The study highlights migrant communities as active agents whose everyday practices and local knowledge should inform inclusive urban health and housing policies, particularly in the context of migration and climate vulnerability [4,6].