BEIRUT: A recent increase in rents has made it harder for Syrian refugees to find shelter in Lebanon, UNHCR said Friday in its weekly update.
With over 474,000 Syrians now registered or awaiting registration with the United Nations agency, affordable shelter is becoming increasingly difficult to find, with more and more refugees now moving to less expensive shelter options like tented settlements.
“Refugees face growing challenges in finding shelter, exacerbated in recent weeks by the spike in rents. More refugees are having to move out of rented accommodation into improvised solutions including tented settlements or substandard abandoned structures,” the update said.
According to UNHCR, 40,000 Syrians now live in tented settlements across the country.
To date UNHCR and its partner agencies have assessed 250 of these informal sites, and 60 percent of their residents have received shelter, water, sanitation and hygiene assistance, the report notes.
However, inexpensive tented settlement accommodation can prove insecure.
The United Nations agency reports that refugees have been ordered to evacuate one such site in the Bekaa Valley.
“Deir al-Ahmar municipality has given a 10-day notice for refugees to evacuate a tented settlement they did not have permission to set up in the area,” the agency states, adding that it is following up the situation and hopes the refugees can be relocated to an adequate location.
Elsewhere in the country, agencies continue work to identify and renovate abandoned structures in which refugees may be accommodated.
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18/05/2013
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