Increase in Camp Evictions and Displaced Families: New Monitoring Highlights Escalation of Forced Evictions and Human Rights Violations

Original article: Más campamentos afectados y más familias desalojadas: Nuevo monitoreo evidencia intensificación de desalojos forzosos y vulneraciones de DDHH

The Human Rights and Evictions Network of Chile has released an updated report titled «Estimation and Monitoring of Forced Evictions in Chile. Status of Estimates as of July 2026» (Fondecyt Project «Beyond Housing»).

This is the third update of a systematic monitoring effort that began in March 2025, aimed at documenting the threats and executions of evictions in camps across the country.

The Network highlighted that the findings «reveal the magnitude of the phenomenon. As of July 2026, 99 camps are identified as under threat of eviction, home to 13,724 families, while 83 camps have been evicted since 2019, involving 7,856 families,» they explained.

According to the monitoring data, together, 21,580 families belong to camps that have either been evicted or are currently under threat, representing 22.8% of the total recorded in the monitoring database.

«In other words, nearly one in four recorded families has been or is exposed to an eviction process,» the organization warns.

In this context, they noted that one of the main new features of the report is the ability to compare the current situation with the first measurement conducted in March 2025.

«In just over a year, there has been a significant increase in the number of camps linked to eviction processes. In March 2025, 131 affected settlements were registered; by July 2026, this number rose to 182. Among this total, evicted camps increased from 58 to 83, while those still under threat changed from 73 to 99,» the report points out.

«The most notable change is seen in the number of families belonging to camps that have already been evicted. These rose from 3,591 in March 2025 to 7,856 in July 2026, representing an increase of 118.8%. During the same period, the total number of families linked to evicted or threatened camps grew from 19,548 to 21,580,» the Network added.

«Thus, the comparison shows an intensification of the phenomenon in two ways: the number of settlements and families involved in eviction processes has increased; on the other hand, a growing proportion of previously recorded threats have materialized into actual expulsions,» they indicated.

Judicialization and the Role of Private Actors

The monitoring also identifies the mechanisms and actors involved in these processes. In this regard, the survey revealed that 85.9% of currently threatened camps are linked to judicial processes, while 14.1% are subject to administrative procedures.

Among cases where information is available, 79.7% of the processes are promoted by private actors, including individuals, companies, commercial societies, real estate developers, and other landowners. Additionally, among threatened camps whose ownership could be identified, 70.2% are located on private land.

Eviction threats are also heavily concentrated geographically: five regions account for 95% of families currently threatened: Tarapacá (4,431 families under threat), Atacama (3,234), Metropolitan (2,021), Biobío (1,695), and Valparaíso (1,663).

At the communal level, the concentration is even greater: Alto Hospicio, Caldera, Curanilahue, Colina, and San Antonio account for 77.3% of the national total of threatened families, with Alto Hospicio and Caldera alone comprising more than half.

A Permanent Monitoring Effort to Prevent and Support

It is important to highlight that this report is built on the integration and contrast of information from national inventories and international comparisons, judicial and administrative records, territorial and community sources, and press reports.

This database allows for tracking changes in the status of processes, identifying new threats, and observing their territorial evolution.

The results demonstrate that forced evictions are not decreasing; rather, they are intensifying and reconfiguring spatially: affected camps are increasing, the number of families associated with completed evictions is significantly growing, and new threats are extending towards a larger number of settlements.

Having systematic, updated, and territorially localized information is essential not only to gauge this phenomenon but also to anticipate risk situations, prevent forced evictions, mitigate their impacts, and strengthen support for families and communities undergoing these processes.

In this sense, monitoring aims to raise awareness and denounce non-compliance with international treaty standards, thus highlighting potential violations of fundamental human rights.

For the Human Rights and Evictions Network, this effort allows them to demand full respect for the guarantees of affected families: ensuring direct and timely notifications; promoting dialogue opportunities that respond to the need for a place to live; avoiding all forms of discrimination and criminalization of socially vulnerable groups; and generating ongoing and accessible information regarding eviction processes.

Thus, monitoring also seeks to ensure that public institutions act promptly and offer housing alternatives before displacement occurs, so that, as a result of an eviction, no one is left without a home.

Read the full report HERE