Abstract

Since 2015, policies for resettling asylum seekers and refugees in European cities have renewed the debate over the governance of migration, while not only metropolises but also small towns and mid-sized cities emerge as, although not new, at least specific arrival spaces. National dispersion policies are assigning these asylum seekers and refugees to small and mid-sized cities that are presumed to provide housing opportunities. However, little is known about access to housing and residential trajectories in these specific urban and socio-economic contexts. This article analyses how the housing providers—either state agencies, managers of temporary accommodation centres or social housing organisations—are adjusting to the arrival and needs of asylum seekers and refugees in cities where there is usually less ethnic diversity. We demonstrate that access to housing and residential trajectories tends to be determined by dispersion and mainstream social mix policies, from national to local arrangements. However, we argue that some pragmatic local practices have reframed this pattern to provide housing solutions that may be contrary to national policies. Our article will be based on 84 in-depth interviews conducted with housing providers, NGOs and with asylum seekers and refugees in three small and mid-sized French cities.

Highlights

  • Urban and migration research has mainly focused on global cities and metropolitan areas as places of arrival (Saunders, 2011) that are affected by an increasing ‘super-diversity’ (Vertovec, 2007), and as ‘pragmatic’ actors playing an increasing role in the multi-level governance of migration and diversity (Arino et al, 2018; Babels, Bontemps, Makaremi, & Mazouz, 2018; Caponio, 2018; Dekker & van Kempen, 2004)

  • Allocation strategies factor in not just housing availability but the concentration of poor and migrant people. This concentration is presented by social housing organisation in Locheronde as posing a risk of aggravating management difficulties, of “bad debts” and “stigmatization.” In two of the sites studied, this discourse is associated with large housing estates considered to be ‘ghettos.’ Allocating such housing to refugees would run counter to the idea of mixing up different profiles for the purpose of attracting the middle classes to the newly renovated housing: At a certain point, there has to be a mix and this mix depends on a settlement policy, because we have a very vulnerable and a foreign population

  • The main outcome of our empirical study is to demonstrate how asylum seeker and refugee housing access in French small towns and mid-sized cities is driven by dispersion policies underpinned by two types of arrangements

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Summary

Introduction

Urban and migration research has mainly focused on global cities and metropolitan areas as places of arrival (Saunders, 2011) that are affected by an increasing ‘super-diversity’ (Vertovec, 2007), and as ‘pragmatic’ actors playing an increasing role in the multi-level governance of migration and diversity (Arino et al, 2018; Babels, Bontemps, Makaremi, & Mazouz, 2018; Caponio, 2018; Dekker & van Kempen, 2004). Recent research calling for a ‘rescaling’ approach in migration studies defines medium-sized cities as low- and down-scale cities They may not provide as many opportunities for migrants in terms of employment, education and ethnic networks and they may lack public resources and experience of migration governance (Glick Schiller & Çağlar, 2009). The aim of our article is to fill in this gap in research into small and mid-size cities as places and pragmatic actors by focusing on housing access through a multi-level governance approach Beyond this national representation of small and mid-size cities as places of housing opportunities, how are reception structures for refugees and asylum seekers and for those whose requests have been rejected provided in these local contexts?. We argue that pragmatic actors may adjust their discourse and day-today practices to provide housing solutions, just as residents may rise up in support of the most vulnerable

Migration Governance and Housing Access
Presentation of Research Sites and Methodology
A National Dispersion-Based Approach
Geographical Dispersion Policies Out of Large Cities and Border Towns
The Stamp of Imposed Trajectories
When Social Mix Becomes Ethnically-Based and Adjusts to the Housing Supply
Mix and Dispersion
From Housing Opportunity to an Unsuitable Offering
Local Adjustments and Initiatives in Housing Access
Tinkering with the Republican Model
Private Hospitality
Findings
Conclusion
Full Text
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