Thematic line 1. Housing arrangements and pathways for asylum seekers and refugees: state of the art, dilemmas, ways ahead

Local reception is also, and from the very beginning, a matter of providing shelter. Housing is fundamental to the social protection of all vulnerable groups, including asylum seekers and refugees. Their access to some sort of accommodation, and then their housing careers, are critical to their processes of integration. Refugee housing is made all the more challenging by the legal and temporal uncertainty which is inherent in the asylum seeker condition. As influential are widespread forms of stigmatization and, almost as often, under-resourced or segregative public policies. It is not by chance that many studies of refugee housing have been conducted all over Europe in the last few years. Yet, most of these studies tend to be isolated from each other; more dialogue and comparative analysis are now in order.In light of these premises, this thematic line aims to gather contributions that address the factors which make housing for refugees more or less effective, inclusive and sustainable. It will do so, by gathering both specific case studies and contributions with a broader theoretical or comparative remit. Special attention should be given to the interaction between initiatives in housing and in other social welfare domains, with all of the actors and the sources of funding involved – international bodies, national or local authorities, NGOs, social movements and refugees themselves. As critical will be the contributors’ ability to shed light on the prospects and limits of the refugees’ spontaneous housing initiatives. How, if at all, housing for/with refugees enables them to feel at home – both in dedicated facilities and in the outer environments – is the last question to be addressed by contributions in this thematic line. We are especially interested in papers which analyze the contribution of social enterprises and third sector organizations to housing.