Multiple exclusion homelessness amongst migrants in the UK

Suzanne Fitzpatrick, Sarah Johnsen, Glen Bramley

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract / Description of output

This article examines the experience of ‘multiple exclusion homelessness’ (MEH) amongst migrants to the UK. Homelessness and destitution amongst migrants has become a matter of growing concern in many European countries in recent years, particularly with respect to asylum seekers and refugees, irregular migrants and, increasingly, economic migrants from central and eastern Europe. Drawing on a multistage quantitative survey, this paper demonstrates that the MEH experiences of people who have migrated to the UK as adults tend to differ from those of the indigenous MEH population; the former are, in particular, far less likely to report troubled childhoods and multiple forms of deep exclusion. It also identifies a series of experiential clusters within the MEH migrant population, with central and eastern European migrants often reporting less complex support needs than other migrant groups using low threshold support services. The paper considers the extent to which migrants experiencing MEH in the UK had encountered similar levels of exclusion in their home countries, and reveals that the more extreme problems this group faced tended to occur only after arrival in the UK. It concludes by considering the implications of these findings for both understandings of the phenomenon of migrant homelessness and for responses to this growing European problem.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)31-58
Number of pages28
JournalEuropean Journal of Homelessness
Volume6
Issue number1
Publication statusPublished - 2012

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Multiple exclusion homelessness amongst migrants in the UK'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this