Antofagasta is an intermediate Chilean city featuring an extractive mining
sector which attracts a population of low-income migrants, internal and
cross-national, looking for economic opportunities. This leads to a gap
between supply and demand for rental housing, subletting and homeownership,
resulting in a highly speculative housing market. This paper examines
the consequent increase in so-called informal settlements and shows
how self-built housing has become an alternative way for the population
of internal and foreign migrants to access housing. Drawing upon both
quantitative (secondary statistics and a survey with 102 households) and
qualitative research (15 in-depth interviews), the paper shows how a private-
led, profit-oriented and racist housing market has consolidated in the
city. Moreover, by shedding light on the everyday ways in which residents
access urban services, the research points to the complex forms of juxtaposition
between the formal and the informal in central, peri-central and
peripheral sectors of the city. Therefore, the paper questions the formal–informal
dualities in access to housing and the necessity to rethink housing
and urban policies accordingly.