A restrictive turn: Understanding the nexus  of migration politics  and housing policy through processes of refugee settlement in Sweden

Abstract

The problem of exclusionary cities and the need to combat this is acknowledged internationally, within the European Union and in national policy documents. In the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) it is stated that “access to adequate housing is central to achieving inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable cities”. Yet the development visible in metropolitan areas across Europe, and in other places, illuminates that housing issues are becoming increasingly difficult for both policy makers and migrants themselves to combat. The problem of navigating these challenges, by policy makers and refugee migrants, is the focal point of this thesis that explores the nexus between housing and restrictive migration policies. The thesis contributes with a bottom-up approach to understand the interplay of the restrictive migration turn and an existing housing crisis at the local level.

In particular, this research project explores local level housing policies through the lens of a contemporary restrictive and impermanence-oriented migration regime in Sweden, to understand how housing policy relates to national migration policy and, how this in turn, shapes refugees’ experiences of settlement in Sweden in a situation of post forced migration. The project turns attention to three elements shaping settlement processes: i) restrictive ideologies on migration and migrants, ii) housing policies and planning for housing migrants, and iii) migrants’ strategies of attaining housing at the local level.