Migrants' access to housing in Russia: evaluation methodology and results of the experimental study

Abstract

The authors consider one of the aspects of the socio-cultural integration of migrants into the host society. The integration of migrants is interpreted by a wide range of scientists as the process of including newly arrived in various spheres of life of the host society. Usually, there are three to four such spheres. Access of migrants to housing in the host country is an important indicator of integration in the socio-economic sphere. As a rule, in Russian and foreign studies, access to housing is assessed through a comparative analysis of the living conditions of migrants and the host population. However, access to housing and housing conditions are not exactly the same thing. Rather, access implies the potential for housing. To assess such a possibility, an experimental method that allows the researcher to test various hypotheses and control the variables of interest is more suitable than a mass survey or available statistical data. The article contributes to the methodology for studying migrants' access to housing in the host country. It proposes a new approach to its assessment and presents the first results of its approbation. In the course of the experiment carried out by the authors, the influence of the citizenship of potential tenants on access to high-quality and low-quality housing in Moscow was measured, as well as the willingness of landlords to register migrants on their property. Significant differences in the access of migrants from different CIS countries to renting Moscow accommodation were revealed. The most loyal attitude is towards Belarusians and Ukrainians, the least preferable are immigrants from Central Asia, especially citizens of Tajikistan. In addition, it was found that all groups of migrants are seriously limited in their ability to obtain a valid migration registration due to the unwillingness of the owners of residential premises to fulfil their obligations to “register” foreign tenants. This obviously impedes their integration in the political and legal sphere of the host society, since a foreign citizen in the Russian Federation without a genuine document on migration registration, even with all other permits, is a person with an unregulated legal status.