In Costa Rica, there are about 2,000 rooming houses, more than 2,500 shacks and hundreds of people living in about 394 squatting houses. They aim to provide a temporary, housing solution to the poorest people in the country. However, there is no free space, hot water or fixed telephone service.
These sites are common in the Central Valley. According to the National Household Survey 2014, in the Central region there are almost 1200 rooming houses and 1300 shacks. Most of these sites are characterized by a series of risks that can be caused by small corridors, very poor electrical installations and overcrowding.
According to Henry Morales, fire investigator from the Fire Department, squatting houses are built on unstable land areas with high combustion materials. The last example occurred in a fire in León XIII, where 6 people died and about 80 slums were burnt.
There is a lot of overcrowding. They are structures constructed with easy-ignition material and they are usually located in the banks of rivers,
explained Morales.
In addition, electrical installations are usually shared among homes and they are not protected. However, there are also places with no electricity, which forces people to cook with a stove and candles, which increases the risks.
Regarding rooming houses, these are buildings or houses that turn into small hotels, but they were not designed for this purpose.
They are houses that are separated into small rooms and in a small place there are kitchen, living room, dining room and bedrooms, all in the same place,
stated Morales.
Thus, in one room there is a refrigerator, a gas stove, TVs, lamps and appliances that, when joining in several bedrooms, overload the electrical system of the house.
In the central town of San José, Marcelo Solano, Municipal police director, declared that the institution has identified some illegal rooming houses that serve as hiding places for people with arrest warrants, drug trafficking and even human trafficking.