Refugees and Housing: Policy, Practice and Lived Experience

Housing has always had a close association with the lives refugees lead in exile and the settlement of refugees is, at its core, a housing issue. Refugees move from their home, perhaps through various other places, to finally arrive in a nation-state which provides them with security of status and the promise of assistance to continue their lives. At the foundation of this promise of refuge is the provision of a safe and secure home. Despite this, the knowledge base about housing and its significance in the lives of refugees is not fully understood and this risks understating the enormous impact housing has on the settlement of refugees more broadly. This book makes an important contribution to the literature on the relationship between sanctuary and housing. It draws on new empirical research to examine how refugees have transitioned through the housing system over the last three decades and how changes in policy and the routes into refugee status has mediated these experiences.