FOREIGN RESIDENTS, HOUSING MARKET AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT STRATEGIES

Abstract

AbstractIn order to examine the relationship between the housing market and integration of foreign residents and their families in Frankfurt am Main, it is necessary to look at its socioeconomic structure. The article begins with a brief summary of the spatial and socioeconomic situation of Frankfurt and the foreign residents of the city. Next, the characteristics of urban development and the existing housing stock, publicly financed low‐income housing, and integration strategies are discussed in order to determine how effective the City has been in its attempts to integrate the foreign resident population. It becomes apparent that foreigners are increasingly disadvantaged where urban development is concerned, whenever they have to look for accommodation in those sectors of the housing market which are regulated by the private economy. In the public sector, there is a structural under‐supply due to the discrepancy between accommodation size and household size of foreigners on the one hand, and a regulation of the proportion of foreigners, as regards a ‘socially compatible’ composition, and the total share of population groups of the city, on the other hand. Finally, the importance of reforming the German nationality law in relation to the integration of foreigners is discussed.