Mud-hut homes near Venezuela's capital signal growing desperation

A woman works on a house made with mud, sticks and tin sheet, raised on a vacant lot where families are settling since they cannot afford to pay rent anymore, in the municipality of Sucre, near Caracas, Venezuela June 12, 2020. Picture taken June 12, 2020. REUTERS/Manaure Quintero

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan families on the outskirts of Caracas are expanding a settlement of mud-and-bamboo homes lacking running water, power and sewer services, in another sign of declining living standards amid a six-year economic crisis.

Sixteen families in the community known as "Los Trailers" have already built such huts, and another group of families is building 14 more. They say they cannot build brick homes, because bricks are too expensive.