Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Pathways to Housing: The Experiences of Sponsored Refugees and Refugee Claimants in Accessing Permanent Housing in Toronto

  • Research Note
  • Published:
Journal of International Migration and Integration / Revue de l'integration et de la migration internationale Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In contrast to many new immigrants, refugees normally have limited financial resources upon arrival in a new country. Consequently, most refugees need some form of assistance in accessing good-quality, safe and affordable housing. This paper evaluates the assumption that refugee claimants in Toronto experience a much more difficult pathway to housing than sponsored refugees. The housing trajectories of a sample of refugees are examined using semi-structured interviews. The results confirm that this sample of refugee claimants experienced a more difficult pathway to housing, at least in the initial stages of settlement. Over time, claimants improved their housing position and narrowed the gap with sponsored refugees.

Résumé

Contrairement à beaucoup de nouveaux immigrants, les réfugiés ont généralement des ressources financières limitées à leur arrivée dans un nouveau pays. Par conséquent, la plupart des réfugiés ont besoin d’aide pour accéder à un logement de qualité, sécuritaire et abordable. Cet article examine l’hypothèse selon laquelle les revendicateurs du statut de réfugié à Toronto doivent faire face à plus d’obstacles dans l’obtention d’un logement que les réfugiés parrainés. Les trajectoires résidentielles d’un échantillon de réfugiés ont été examinées par le biais d’entrevues semi-dirigées. Les résultats confirment que l’échantillon de revendicateurs du statut de réfugié ont eu plus de difficultés à se trouver un logement, du moins en ce qui à trait à la période suivant leur arrivée. Avec le temps, les revendicateurs du statut de réfugié ont vu leur situation résidentielle s’améliorer et l’écart avec les réfugiés parrainés diminuer.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Bezanson, R. Z. (2000). Make yourself at home: Exploring housing and resettlement with Afghan refugee households in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario. Master’s thesis. Department of Geography, University of Waterloo.

  • Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (2006). Canadian housing observer 2006. Ottawa: Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carter, T., & Polevychok, C. (2004). Housing is good social policy. Ottawa: Canadian Policy Research Networks Research Report F50.

    Google Scholar 

  • Citizenship and Immigration Canada (2007). Facts and figures: immigration overview permanent and temporary residents. Ottawa: Citizenship and Immigration Canada, Research and Evaluation Branch.

    Google Scholar 

  • City of Toronto Housing Department (1992). Refugee housing study. Toronto: City of Toronto Housing Department Research Report # 92-004.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clark, W. A. V., & Dieleman, F. (1996). Households and housing: choice and outcomes in the housing market. New Brunswick: Center for Urban Policy Research, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dion, K. (2001). Immigrants’ perceptions of housing discrimination in Toronto: the housing new Canadians project. Journal of Social Issues, 57(3), 523–539.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ferdinands, S. (2002). Sinhalese immigrants in Toronto and their trajectories into home ownership. Toronto: Master’s thesis, Graduate Programme in Geography, York University.

  • Ghosh, S. (2007). Transnational ties and intra-immigrant group settlement experiences: a case study of Indian Bengalis and Bangladeshis in Toronto. GeoJournal, 68(2–3), 223–242.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Golden, A., Currie, W. H., Greaves, E., & Latimer, J. (1999). Taking responsibility for homelessness: an action plan for Toronto. Toronto: Mayor’s Homelessness Action Task Force.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hiebert, D., D’Addario, S., Sherrell, K., & Chan, S. (2005). The profile of absolute and relative homelessness among immigrants, refugees, and refugee claimants in the GVRD. Vancouver: MOSAIC.

    Google Scholar 

  • Junaid, B. (2002). First contact: the arrival needs of refugee claimants. Toronto: Canadian Red Cross, Toronto Region.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kellett, P., & Moore, J. (2003). Routes to home: homelessness and home-making in contrasting societies. Habitat International, 27(1), 123–141.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kissoon, P. N. (2007). Reconsidering homelessness: Refugees’ housing experiences and meanings of home in Canada and the UK. London: Ph.D. dissertation, Geography Department, King’s College London.

  • Lewin, F. A. (2001). The meaning of home among elderly immigrants: directions for future research and theoretical development. Housing Studies, 16(3), 353–370.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Miraftab, F. (2000). Sheltering refugees: the housing experience of refugees in Metropolitan Vancouver, Canada. Canadian Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 9(1), 42–62.

    Google Scholar 

  • Murdie, R. A. (2002). The housing careers of Polish and Somali newcomers in Toronto’s rental market. Housing Studies, 17(3), 423–443.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Murdie, R. A. (2003). Housing affordability and Toronto’s rental market: perspectives from the housing careers of Jamaican, Polish and Somali newcomers. Housing, Theory and Society, 20(4), 183–196.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Murdie, R. A., Preston, V., Ghosh, S., & Chevalier, M. (2006). Immigrants and housing: a review of Canadian literature from 1990 to 2005. Ottawa: Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.

    Google Scholar 

  • Oliveira, L. (2004). Housing trajectories into home ownership: A case study of Punjabi Sikh Immigrants in the Toronto CMA. Toronto: Master’s thesis, Graduate Programme in Geography, York University.

  • Owusu, T. (1999). Residential patterns and housing choices of Ghanaian immigrants in Toronto, Canada. Housing Studies, 14(1), 77–97.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Phillips, D. (2006). Moving towards integration: the housing of asylum seekers and refugees in Britain. Housing Studies, 21(4), 539–553.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ray, B. (1998). A comparative study of immigrant housing, neighbourhoods and social networks in Toronto and Montréal. Ottawa: Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.

    Google Scholar 

  • Renaud, J., Piché, V., & Godin, J.-F. (2003). ‘One’s bad and the other one’s worse’: differences in economic integration between asylum seekers and refugees selected abroad. Canadian Ethnic Studies, 35(2), 86–99.

    Google Scholar 

  • Robinson, D., Reeve, K., & Casey, R. (2007). The housing pathways of new immigrants. York: Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rose, D., & Ray, B. (2001). The housing situation of refugees in Montreal three years after arrival: the case of asylum seekers who obtained permanent residence. Journal of International Migration and Integration, 2(4), 493–529.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ryan, L., & Woodill, J. (2000). A search for home: refugee voices in the Romero house community. Toronto: The Maytree Foundation.

    Google Scholar 

  • Simich, L. (2003). Negotiating boundaries of refugee resettlement: a study of settlement patterns and social support. The Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropology, 40(5), 575–591.

    Google Scholar 

  • Statistics Canada (2005). Longitudinal survey of immigrants to Canada: a portrait of early settlement experiences. Ottawa: Statistics Canada Catalogue no. 89–614-XIE.

    Google Scholar 

  • Teixeira, C. (2006). Housing experiences of black africans in Toronto’s rental market: a case study of Angolan and Mozambican immigrants. Canadian Ethnic Studies, 38(3), 58–86.

    Google Scholar 

  • Teixeira, C. (2007). Residential experiences and the culture of suburbanization: a case study of Portuguese homebuyers in Mississauga. Housing Studies, 22(4), 495–521.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zine, J. (2002). Living on the ragged edges: absolute and hidden homelessness among Latin Americans and Muslims in West Central Toronto. Toronto: Informal Housing Network.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

Financial support for this study was provided by the Centre of Excellence for Research on Immigration and Settlement (The Ontario Metropolis Centre). I thank members of the City of Toronto’s Immigrant and Refugee Housing Task Group who assisted in the development of the study and provided feedback, suggestions and assistance in recruiting potential respondents. In particular, I wish to thank Sutama Ghosh, Mohamed Khaled, Priya Kissoon and Lisa Oliveira, who conducted the interviews and assisted with the transcriptions and data analysis. I am also grateful to two anonymous referees for their detailed and helpful comments on an earlier version of the paper.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography, York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    Robert A. Murdie

Authors
  1. Robert A. Murdie
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Robert A. Murdie.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Murdie, R.A. Pathways to Housing: The Experiences of Sponsored Refugees and Refugee Claimants in Accessing Permanent Housing in Toronto. Int. Migration & Integration 9, 81–101 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12134-008-0045-0

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12134-008-0045-0

Keywords

Mots clés

Search

Navigation