ICMCEUROPE WelcometoEurope.pdf (5.89 MB)

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Chapter VII – Building a New Life in the Community
are assisted to find permanent housing
in municipalities, and are able to
choose their area of residency in a
country or city.
2.4.2. Direct reception
Direct reception offers resettled refugees
the opportunity for immediate
settlement and integration in municipalities.
Resettled refugees are thus
faced with a single point of adjustment
between the country of departure and
the resettlement country, and will be
immediately oriented toward more
long-term integration and settlement.
Children, for example, can immediately
start their education at the school they
will attend in the longer term and start
their new lives without losing additional
time.
Immediately placing refugees in a
municipality requires that adequate
housing is available as soon as refugees
arrive into the country. Direct reception
can therefore create some significant
challenges for housing providers.
Accurate information on family size,
physical disabilities or other needs for
adapted housing and equipment, and
any requirements to be close to specialist
services, must be collected and
communicated to local resettlement
actors prior to refugees arriving. Local
programmes must also incorporate
sufficient flexibility to deal with specific
needs affecting housing that only
become apparent after arrival.
Additionally, a multitude of factors
may delay the departure of resettled
refugees from countries of asylum,
resulting in their arriving into resettlement
countries later than originally
envisaged. Housing providers in direct
reception models may therefore be
required to ‘block’ accommodation in
anticipation of refugees’ arrival, while
also limiting the additional rental costs
they incur in doing so.
2.5. Mainstream and specialised
integration programmes
In those resettlement countries with
predefined programmes for the integration
of newcomers, services for
resettled refugees are often mainstreamed
into this wider provision.
This is the case in Sweden, where
the Public Employment Service coordinates
a national integration programme
available to all newcomers
that includes language-learning,
education and vocational training.
In Germany, eligible newcomers can
access civic orientation classes and
up to 600 hours of language tuition
via a national integration programme
developed and commissioned by the
federal government.
Other European resettlement countries
have developed specialised integration
programmes specifically for resettled
refugees. In the UK, for example,
partnerships of local authorities and