By Loretta B Manele

Overcrowded and overpriced accommodation was found to be one of the principal challenges for migrant workers.

Nathalie Hanley, IOM (International Organization for Migration) Programme Manager for Solomon Islands stressed on this when she spoke about findings from IOM’s “Returned Migrant Workers in Solomon Islands” January 2025 report at Heritage Park Hotel yesterday.

She said in terms of the challenges, the principal challenge reported by migrant workers was living in overcrowded and overpriced accommodation.

Hanley added that from the returned migrant workers they surveyed, about 15% of all workers had reported this as an issue.

She stressed that looking at the total sample of 500 respondents, there were only 15 % of them who had their own bedroom.

On the other hand, the majority 85 % majority had to be in shared accommodation.

“For some of them, it was two to three people per room and for some of them it was more than four people per room. One of the respondents that my colleagues identified mentioned that there were 17 people in the room that he was staying in, which is an extreme lot”.

Hanley emphasized that this poses some issues of privacy.

She said about half the sample they surveyed said they didn’t feel that the accommodation arrangements that they were provided with allowed for their privacy.

Hanely mentioned that on average, more women than men reported that the accommodation arrangements didn’t allow for their privacy.

“So that was one of the challenges that was reported by workers”.

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