HOUSING PRECARITY · Housing Precarity Pathways, Meanings, Influences and Responses among South Asian Migrants to Dublin

Housing Precarity Pathways, Meanings, Influences and Responses among South Asian Migrants to Dublin

The Republic of Ireland experienced dramatic economic growth during the 1990s, accompanied by population growth, falling unemployment, and rising housing demand. This vibrant, globalized economy also attracted migrants worldwide and marked the end of Ireland’s longstanding status as a largely mono-ethnic nation. This boom ended in an acute housing market, economic and fiscal bust in 2008 but, when the economy started to recover finally, continued population growth and political economy factors such as labor market inequality, financialization of the private rental sector and the impact of cuts to government funding for social housing provision, combined to produce a crisis of housing supply, affordability and access. This housing crisis has proved intractable, and rented housing affordability and homelessness have worsened over the last decade. It has been argued that investment in social housing provision and limiting the State's reliance on the private rental sector are necessary to resolve the crisis. Housing affordability and homelessness have been persistent problems both for Irish nationals and migrants over the last decade, but these problems are particularly acute among the latter. The 2016 census reveals that nearly 20 per cent of migrants lived in overcrowded accommodation, compared to 8 per cent of Irish-born individuals. Overcrowding rates were most severe among migrants from outside the European Economic Area (EEA). Non-EEA migrants also have higher rates of homelessness than migrants from inside the EEA. However, except those who are seeking asylum in Ireland, non-EEA migrants’ housing challenges have been largely ignored by policymakers in this country and their primary solution to the housing crisis—increased social housing provision—is unlikely to significantly help this group of migrants because they must become naturalized citizens to qualify for access to this tenure or to any other form of housing subsidies. The housing situation of non-EEA migrants has also received little attention from researchers, and the factors that shape their particular housing problems are not well understood. In particular, neither the interaction between housing precarity and other socio-economic precarities, which are more common among migrants (e.g., related to labor market discrimination or legal status), nor migrants’ responses to these challenges and their agency in shaping pathways through these precarities, has been explored in depth. This research fills these critical knowledge gaps by examining Bangladeshi migrants’ lived experiences of housing precarity in Dublin, Ireland’s capital and largest city. The project marries the concepts of housing precarity, multiple precarities, and structure-agency integration to guide a multi-method anthropological study of these migrants’ precarity. This innovative analytical framework goes well beyond the current state of the art. It has the potential to illuminate the pathways of precarity for other marginalized groups in Ireland and internationally. The concept of housing precarity has been adapted from labor market research to understand the housing experiences of low-paid migrants. It highlights individuals' vulnerability to housing crises, which is closely linked to other factors contributing to precarity, such as job and income insecurity, as well as legal and immigration status. Housing precarity encompasses not only the material aspects of low-income migrants' housing experiences but also their emotional, multidimensional, and dynamic qualities. It is important to emphasize housing precarity because it is marked by a lack of control and potential instability, often resulting in negative emotional effects. This project examines the interaction between housing-related structures and migrants’ everyday agency, and how this interaction shapes their access to affordable, suitable homes and their experience of housing precarity. The macro-structural components of this analysis include Irish housing policy, the European labor market, immigration policy, and the financialized housing market. The microstructural components of Bangladeshi communities’ experiences include social networks, social class, and processes or systems of chain and illegal migration. The project aims to investigate Bangladeshi migrants’ lived experience of precariousness in Dublin in terms of housing, labor market activity, and immigration status, and the interaction between these. To achieve this broad aim, the project addresses the following objectives. (1) Identify the broader macro-structures (e.g., globalization and labor market) and micro- structures (e.g., social network, kinship, human capital, and social capital) that influence Bangladeshi migrants’ decision to migrate to Dublin and enter this labor and housing market. (2) Describe the extent and nature of Bangladeshi migrants’ housing precarity in Dublin and map the pathways they have followed through the housing system in this city. (3) Explore the micro and macro structural factors that shape Bangladeshi migrants’ options and choices in the Dublin housing market, and the relationship between housing precarity and other forms of precarity, including labor market and income precarity and legal or immigration status, and (4) Examine the extent, nature, and impact of Bangladeshi migrants’ agency in negotiating their housing precarity and the factors that shape this, including social networks, gender roles, cultures, and religions. To review existing debates and research on housing precarity, the project collects data from secondary sources, including books, articles, and newspapers. The main body of the project encompasses primary research using the anthropological case study method. This method involves collecting in-depth accounts of a single case (e.g., individuals, families, institutions, and communities) that provide a detailed account of “why” and “how” a social phenomenon works. The project is relevant to a wide audience, including researchers in migration, housing, poverty, and precarity from across the social sciences, as well as policymakers, service providers, and advocacy groups working on these issues. To maximize project outcomes and impacts, a multifaceted, multistage, multimodal dissemination and exploitation plan has been devised. This project intends to make important theoretical and empirical contributions to the academic literature and also generate useful information for policymakers and service providers. The project’s theoretical discussion of action and structure, and the interaction of multiple precarities (related to housing, labor markets, and legal status), has enormous potential to strengthen analysis across and within the disciplines of housing studies, migration, and social policy, particularly in Europe. The project’s conceptual approach, findings, and results contribute to the development of South Asian diaspora studies in Europe. The project fills a critical empirical gap in knowledge of migration, housing, and precarity in Ireland, and policymakers and service providers from this country and across Europe can find its relevant policy and service responses to these issues, and it also informs advocacy groups’ campaigns and their understanding of the experiences and needs of their client group.

Data: CORDIS, © European Union