With 7.4 million people displaced, Colombia is the unfortunate leader in the global ranking of internally displaced persons. Armed conflict, violent displacement, and environmental disasters have triggered a mass rural exodus, with most people seeking refuge in urban centers like Bogotá and Medellín.

In 2016, Colombia's long-suffering civil war led to a peace agreement between the government and FARC guerrillas, an achievement that earned President Juan Manuel Santos the Nobel Peace Prize. Four years earlier, Santos and his Housing Minister, Germán Vargas Lleras, had already announced a shared goal of ending poverty in the country. A key initiative in this effort was a large-scale, widely publicized construction project to build 100,000 free homes for war victims, displaced persons, and victims of natural disasters. Interviews with residents in Medellín shed light on how their lives have changed due to the state housing subsidy project.

Work together with Stefan Borghardt