The underestimated importance of homing for refugees : the problematic and interrupted housing pathways of refugees in Flanders (Belgium)

The paper uses a 'homing' lens to critically evaluate the housing trajectories of refugees in Flanders (Belgium) since the so-called 'refugee crisis' of 2015. It does so by reinterpreting and reintegrating four complementary research projects supervised by the authors on refugees' housing, both before and after recognition, this way uniquely combining a social and infrastructural perspective. Housing pathways of refugees are in Belgium are severely interrupted, mirroring a policy rupture. This rupture in the housing trajectories of refugees complicates the already difficult homing processes of refugees due to an (ideological) infrastructural precarity of the collective asylum centres during the procedure and the precarious housing conditions in which many refugees land after their recognition as a result of a lack of professional housing support. Additionally, the fact that both the infrastructure and the volunteer support is continually increased and decreased by the government, instead of building a permanent infrastructure for (temporary) accommodation and solidarity, contributes to the precarity. As a conclusion the authors propose to approach the housing of refugees as part of the broader housing question of cities and close with some policy recommendations