Kristoffer Jutvik

Housing plays a central role in the process of integrating refugees. A home offers stability, a place of resources in the city, which may serve as a platform for participating in society. Although the provision of adequate housing is vital for a transformation into sustainable and resilient communities in cities characterised by hope, such housing conditions have become less accessible in Sweden.

Refugees face a particularly difficult situation concerning housing as they are housed in less attractive residential areas, often in overcrowded and poorly maintained apartments. This situation has been further complicated by the restrictive turn in Swedish migration policy from 2016 and onwards. In sum, this policy turn consists of the introduction of temporary residence status, restrictions in family reunification, a refugee dispersal policy, and limitations in terms of choosing in which neighbourhood to reside.

Our interdisciplinary project aims to understand the impact of the restrictive policy turn on the contemporary housing situation for refugees. We do so by focusing on how the policy change influences actors that use, plan, develop, and organise housing for refugees.

The implementation of planned and well-managed migration policies lies at the core of the construction of peaceful and inclusive societies and cities. But how should migration policies be framed to best promote such development?

This project focuses on the links and impediments between different types of migration policies and refugee inclusion. The project focuses on Sweden, a country which often is associated with open and inclusive migration policies. However, in the aftermath of the so-called “European migration crisis” in 2015 and 2016, Sweden suddenly changed its policy approach. Over a day, migration policy in Sweden changed from an inclusionary to a restrictive approach more in line with the European standard.

This project uses the swift change of regulations in an innovative design to identify two groups of refugees that were granted residence in the same time but were affected and unaffected by the restrictive change. Focusing on these groups, a few novel and unique data sources are introduced and developed to assess the influence of the change on refugees’ inclusion and well-being.

The REMESO database is a register-based database that contains information about all individuals, schools, dwellings and companies in Sweden.
The REMESO database is based on Statistics Sweden's annual registerdata and consists of five parts:
(1) A population register containing information about all individuals who were registered in Sweden as of 31 December for each year;
(2) Longitudinal Integration Database for Health Insurance and Labor Market Studies (LISA);
(3) A business register with information about all economically active companies and organizations in Sweden , whether they belong to the private or public sector;
(4) A school register with information about all elementary schools and upper secondary schools, including student grades;
(5) A real estate register containing microdata administrative and longitudinal information on all properties, buildings, addresses and apartments in Sweden.