[Back]

A. Aigner:
"Housing entry pathways of refugees in Vienna, a city of social housing";
Housing Studies, 34 (2019), 5; 779 - 803.

This article presents the findings of an empirical study investigating refugees´ difficult entry into Vienna´s `tight´ housing market. Arguing that newcomers´ access to housing can be better understood by a closer look at the actors involved in the housing search process, an actor-centred approach is used. Complementing the constructivist pathway framework with a model of search based on Bourdieu´s theory of practice, four types of housing entry pathways could be identified. This study draws on semi-structured in-depth interviews with forced migrants who arrived in Austria in recent years. The analysis of newcomers´ housing entry pathways not only sheds light on the coordination structures at work in a city of social housing, but also on `good´ and `bad´ rental housing submarkets that have emerged in the course of the recent refugee movement. The paper concludes that a high proportion of social housing does not provide any indication that newcomers are granted better access to secure affordable housing.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02673037.2018.1485882