The permanent regime of temporary solutions: Housing of forced migrants in Europe as a policy challenge
- Author(s)
- Kārlis Lakševics, Yvonne Franz, Annegret Haase, Bahanur Nasya, Daniela Patti, Ursula Reeger, Ieva Raubiško, Anika Schmidt, Andris Šuvajevs
- Abstract
Periods of forced migration to and in Europe have been common in the past decade and show no expectation of stalling due to ongoing armed conflicts, global inequalities and the adverse effects of climate change. Nevertheless, the provision of accommodation for asylum seekers and refugees continues to depend on temporary, ad hoc solutions. In the context of housing financialisation and shortage of affordable housing across European cities, this decreases opportunities for integration and securing other needs, such as jobs, language acquisition and childcare, but increases the risk of refugee homelessness and social exclusion. Based on cross-national Urban Living Labs exchanges in Leipzig, Riga, Lund, Helsingborg and Vienna, this commentary argues for a European agenda for long-term housing solutions for forced migrants in the arrival and settling phases that tackle issues from discrimination to access, to belonging. Importantly, creating long-term housing solutions for refugees would benefit whole housing systems as instruments of social inclusion.
- Organisation(s)
- Department of Sociology, Department of Geography and Regional Research
- External organisation(s)
- Wageningen University and Research Centre, Helmholtz-Zentrum für Umweltforschung, Eutropian, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften (ÖAW), University of Latvia (LU)
- Journal
- European Urban and Regional Studies
- Volume
- 31
- Pages
- 81-87
- No. of pages
- 7
- ISSN
- 0969-7764
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1177/09697764231197963
- Publication date
- 10-2023
- Peer reviewed
- Yes
- Austrian Fields of Science 2012
- 504021 Migration research, 507020 Urbanism
- Keywords
- ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Environmental Science (miscellaneous), Urban Studies
- Portal url
- https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/8b4507f9-8266-4e40-9b23-1d4016a63cbb