Refugee integration through collaborative housing? The formation of social connections through social mix and collective self-organisation

Description

Plenary session at the ENHR Conference 2019: Housing of the Next European Social Model, Athens, Greece.
Across Europe, the effectiveness of current approaches to housing refugees regarding integration goals is unclear. Refugee integration policies tend to focus mainly on tangible outcomes such as work and education, which are neverthelessconsidered insufficient by a wide range of actors, including refugees themselves. I argue that the role that housing can play in refugee integration has been neglected both in research and policy, disregarding its potential as enabler of social connections such as social bridges, social bonds and social links. Building on case study research on Amsterdam’s new approach to housing young refugees together with Dutch starters in collaborative housing, the relative merits of this approach will be critically examined in relation to its capacity to foster social connections that lead to better integration outcomes.

Period	29 Aug 2019
Event title	ENHR Conference 2019: Housing of the Next European Social Model
Event type	Conference
Location	Athens, Greece