Asylum accommodation governance in Cyprus: Key findings and recommendations

According to Eurostat’s records, Cyprus had the highest number of firsttime asylum applicants in Europe (relative to population) during the second quarter of 2018. The number of asylum applications in the first eight months exceeded 4,500, marking an increase of 55% from 2017. The growing needs of the increasing asylum seeking population continue to be insufficiently addressed. The vast majority of applicants are unable to secure shelter at the Kofinou Reception and Accommodation Centre, and are instead dispersed throughout the island. Currently, no reliable statistics are available as to where applicants live, under what conditions, or whether they depend on social welfare benefits. At the same time, local authorities lack the legal framework to design social policies, which limits their scope. NGOs and local authorities, in turn, rely heavily on European and national funding to implement integration projects that are ultimately short term and often unsustainable. GLIMER draws on rigorous qualitative research on the national level to map and understand accommodation governance policies, while also charting the impact of their approaches on the accommodation experiences of the displaced as well as the capacity of local and devolved stakeholders to shape, adapt or intervene in issues related to housing1 . The lack of holistic policies shows both a lack of political will, which in turn feeds Cypriots’ negative perceptions towards asylum seekers, while also highlighting the urgent need to improve public services to migrant populations who live and work in Cyprus