ICMCEUROPE WelcometoEurope.pdf (5.89 MB)

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Chapter VII – Building a New Life in the Community
often unwilling to receive resettled refugees
because of a lack of available and
affordable housing. Affordable housing
is generally more readily available in
smaller municipalities, which can be
some distance from the main economic
and cultural urban centres. For those
with specific employment skills and/or
who wish to access trainings and university
education, placement in smaller
or more remote areas can constitute a
huge barrier for integration and their
aspirations for their own resettlement.
For those from specific religious or cultural
backgrounds, living some distance
away from relevant institutions and
facilities can also be problematic. 16
Despite these limitations, smaller communities
can offer resettled refugees
a ‘soft landing’ in the resettlement
country in which both essential services
and local communities and networks
are more easily accessible. This
can particularly benefit families with
younger children, single-parent households
and more vulnerable individuals
or groups with limited experience of
larger urban contexts.
Outside of larger cities, affordable
housing may be located in more isolated
areas some distance from basic
16 An evaluation of the 2008 local programme to
resettle Rohingya refugees to Carlow County in
Ireland, for example, found that the absence of a
mosque and space for religious burials created huge
barriers for their long-term integration, and were
the main motivating factors for refugees considering
leaving the area.
services, creating challenges for service
providers in delivering programmes
accessible to all refugees. In the
Swedish region of Gävleborg, municipalities
have addressed this challenge
through regional cooperation, such
as holding joint Cultural Orientation
sessions in one municipality to which
refugees from around the region are
transported, and jointly procuring
interpreters for particular refugee
groups.
When deciding on placement, national
authorities may also consider factors
such as the presence of similar
ethnic, national, religious or language
groups, the presence of appropriate
interpreters and the capacity of local
services when making decisions on
placement for resettled refugees.
2.2. Planning reception &
integration
Resettlement is a planned activity, and
information about resettled refugees is
known prior to their arrival into a resettlement
country. To be effective, local
reception and integration programmes
must receive information on the groups
and profiles that will come to their
community in an as full and accurate
form as possible, and within timescales
that make pre-arrival planning realistic.
In Europe, timescales for the provision
of information to local actors vary