Around five million houses in Mexico — 14% of Mexico’s total housing stock — are unoccupied due to their location and insecurity, according to a government study.

The social development agency Coneval found that many of the homes are empty because they are located in areas far from where jobs are concentrated.

In 2015, only 14.7% of 139,000 hectares of land designated for new housing across Mexico was near cities, Coneval said, meaning that many new homes have been built in areas that are not only distant from employment opportunities but are also without basic infrastructure such as street lights and paved roads.

The availability of land for development was especially low near the core of Mexico City and Tlaxcala city, with just 27 and 22 hectares respectively designated for new housing.

In addition to long commutes, lack of access to transportation services is another factor that caused people to leave the now-empty houses or not move into them in the first place, Coneval said.

Violence and insecurity are additional factors that cause people to abandon their homes.

According to the study, more than 70% of Mexicans reported feeling unsafe in the streets of the neighborhood where they live and 80% said that they were aware of crimes such as assault, robbery, drug trafficking, shootings and homicides, taking place near their homes.

Coneval said that 62% of Mexicans are not happy with the neighborhood they live in and one in three people don’t trust their neighbors.

Source: Reforma (sp)