The housing experiences of the Auckland Somali population and their impact on the resettlement process

Abstract

This thesis examines the impact of the housing experiences of resettled refugees. It reiterates that becoming a refugee was not a matter of choice, but for those in refugee situations it was imperative to seek refugee status for their survival. This study focuses on the housing experiences of the Auckland Somali resettled refugees and seeks to identify the effect of housing policy and provision in Auckland. It also demonstrates the links of housing to employment, education and health. Refugees face considerable resettlement challenges based on differential factors such as ethnocentrism, immigration status, household composition and socio-economic conditions. These barriers are exacerbated by a lack of English language proficiency, a variety of educational backgrounds and unfamiliarity with institutional practices, especially during their early years of adaptation as relative newcomers to New Zealand.The vulnerable position of this group in housing markets requires up to date information to increase the provider's awareness of housing experiences and their impact on the resettlement process. In turn, an increased knowledge allows evidence-based decisions for appropriate intervention, policy, and strategy developments to facilitate optimum resettlement outcomes. Policy formulation and effective implementation must focus on the identification of suitable services to address the specific barriers experienced by this group. The empirical evidence supports previous findings that there were close correlations between the participants housing experiences that are the types of housing they occupied and their income.The study developed and implemented a Participatory Research Design involving a case study approach with multiple data collection methods. The primary field data was collected from focus group participants through a workshop of qualitative discussion and a survey.