On the outside looking in : The precarious housing situations of successful refugee claimants in the GVRD

Refuge

Volumn 24, Issue 2, 2007, Pages 64-75

  Sherrell, Kathy ^a   D'Addario, Silvia ^b   Hiebert, Daniel ^a,c  

^a UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA   (Canada)

^b YORK UNIVERSITY   (Canada)

^c British Columbia

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

AFFORDABLE HOUSING; IMMIGRATION; INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION; KNOWLEDGE; REFUGEE;

BRITISH COLUMBIA; CANADA; NORTH AMERICA; VANCOUVER;

EID: 55049130548     PISSN: 02295113     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.25071/1920-7336.21385     Document Type: Article

References (64)

1. "Vancouver Real Estate Prices Lead the Nation," CKNW, March 8, 2007, (accessed March 16,2007);
2. "Real Estate Prices Rise 11.2% in Year," CBC News, February 15,2007, (accessed March 16, 2007);
3. A. Ford, "Housing Prices Continue to Climb" The Province, April 4, 2007, (accessed April 8, 2007).
4. "Real Estate Prices Continue to Climb."
5. G. Picot, F. Hou, and S. Coulombe, Chronic Low Income and Low-income Dynamics among Recent Immigrants, Analytical Studied Branch Research Paper Series (Ottawa: Statistics Canada, 2007);
6. G. Picot, "The Deteriorating Economic Welfare of Canadian Immigrants," Canadian Journal of Urban Research 13, no. 1 (2004): 25-45;
7. G. Picot and F. Hou, The Rise in Low-income Rates Among Immigrants in Canada, No. 11F0019MIENo.198 (Ottawa: Statistics Canada, 2003);
8. D. Ley and H.A. Smith, "Relations between Deprivation and Immigrant Groups in Large Canadian Cities," Urban Studies 37, no. 1 (2000): 37-62;
9. H. A. Smith, "The Evolving Relationship between Immigrant Settlement and Neighborhood Disadvantage in Canadian Cities, 1991-2001," No. 04-20 (Vancouver: Research on Immigration and Integration in the Metropolis [RIIM], 2004);
10. K. Pendakur and R. Pendakur, The Colour of Money, RIIM No. 96-03 (Vancouver: Joint Centre of Excellence for Research on Immigration and Settlement, 1996).
11. V. Galt, "The New Face of Poverty," Globe and Mail, January 30, 2007; for the full report see Picot, Hou, and Coulombe.
12. Controlling for demographic differences, 27.1 per cent of refugees in the 2000 entering cohort experienced chronic low income compared to 13.4 per cent in the family class and 15.6 per cent in the skilled class. See Picot, Hou, and Coulombe for a more detailed discussion.
13. D. Hiebert, P. Mendez, and E. Wyly, The Housing Situation and Needs of Recent Immigrants in the Vancouver CMA (Ottawa: Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, 2007);
14. P. Mendez, D. Hiebert, and E. Wyly, "Landing at Home: Insights on Immigration and Metropolitan Housing Markets from the Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Canada," Canadian Journal of Urban Research 15, no.2 (2006): 82-104.
15. Because refugee claimants are temporary residents, their experiences are not captured in large-scale studies such as those by Hiebert, Mendez, and Wyly.
16. Hiebert, Mendez, and Wyly; Mendez, Hiebert, and Wyly; J. D. Hulchanski, "A Tale of Two Canadas: Homeowners Getting Richer, Renters Getting Poorer," in Finding Room: Policy Options for a Canadian Rental Housing Strategy (Toronto: CUCS Press, 2004), 81-88;
17. J. D. Hulchanski, "How Did We Get Here? The Evolution of Canada's 'Exclusionary' Housing System," in Finding Room: Policy Options for a Canadian Rental Housing Strategy (Toronto: CUCS Press, 2004), 189-194.
18. See Appendix A for a brief explanation of the methodology. For a full discussion of the methodology and findings of the report see D. Hiebert, S. D'Addario, and K. Sherrell, The Profile of Absolute and Relative Homelessness among Immigrants, Refugees, and Refugee Claimants in the GVRD (Vancouver: Multilingual Orientation Service Association for Immigrant Communities, 2005), (accessed May 2005).
19. S. D'Addario, D. Hiebert, and K. Sherrell, "Restricted Access: The Role of Social Capital in Mitigating Absolute Homelessness among Immigrants and Refugees in the GVRD," Refuge 24, no. 1 (2007): 107-115.
20. For the sake of clarity "GARs" is used to denote government-assisted refugees, while "claimants" denotes successful refugee claimants. The term "refugees" is understood to include both GARs and claimants.
21. A. Chambon, D. Hulchanski, R. Murdie, and C. Teixeira, "Access to Housing in a Canadian City: Experiences of Three Immigrant Groups" (paper, Urban Affairs Association Conference, Toronto, 1997).
22. After spending more than twenty years in Canada, the 1970s male cohort earned 97 per cent of the earnings of the "like" Canadian (adjusting for age, education, etc.). Immigrants arriving during the 1980s earned approximately 85 per cent of incomes earned by their Canadian-born counterparts after sixteen to twenty years in Canada. Finally, the 1990s cohort earned 70 per cent of the average Canadian-born income, after six to ten years in Canada; Picot. See also Pendakur and Pendakur.
23. Ibid.
24. Ibid.
25. Picot.
26. K. Lee, Urban Poverty in Canada (Ottawa: Canadian Council on Social Development, 2000).
27. Ibid.
28. Pendakur and Pendakur.
29. Chambon et al.
30. J. D. Hulchanski, "Immigrants and Access to Housing: How Welcome Are Newcomers to Canada?" in Metropolis Year II: The Development of a Comparative Research Agenda, Proceedings of the Second National Conference and of the Thematic Seminar "Housing and Neighbourhood," November 23-26, 1997 (Montreal: 1997), 263-274.
31. Chambon et al.
32. R. Murdie and C. Teixeira, "Toward a Comfortable Neighbourhood and Appropriate Housing: Immigrant Experiences in Toronto," CERIS No. 19 (Toronto: Joint Centre of Excellence for Research on Immigration and Settlement, 2001).
33. Ibid.
34. F. Miraftab, "Sheltering Refugees: The Housing Experience of Refugees in Metropolitan Vancouver, Canada" Canadian Journal of Urban Research 9, no. 1 (2000): 42-57.
35. See also Chambon et al.
36. Hiebert, Mendez, and Wyly. We employ a broad definition of homelessness that includes a range of circumstances from being without permanent shelter (i.e. "rooflessness"), through various forms of relative homelessness, such as "sofa surfing" and crowding. The former definition refers to those people who live without shelter and therefore reside on the streets or rely on public facilities such as emergency shelters (often defined as "absolute homelessness"), while the latter refers to those people who possess shelter, but are subject to substandard, unsafe, and/or temporary conditions. T. Peressini, L. McDonald, and D. Hulchanski, Estimating Homelessness: Towards a Methodology for Counting the Homeless in Canada (Ottawa: Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, 1991), .
37. Defining homelessness has always proved to be contentious, and the particular definition adopted in a study will influence results, especially in terms of the number of people included in the category of homeless. Further, the definition chosen will affect policy, since the scope of provisions and assistance is directly linked to the scale of homelessness that is identified. See also G. Valentine, Social Geographies: Space and Society (Harlow, England: Prentice Hall, 2001);
38. A. Veness, "Neither Homed nor Homeless: Contested Definitions and the Personal Words of the Poor," Political Geography 12, no. 4 (1993): 319-340.
39. The under-representation of newcomers amongst the absolute homeless population is reinforced by the findings of the 2005 Greater Vancouver Homeless Count.
40. Further, 28 per cent of respondents have become naturalized and as such did not specify their class of origin. Consequently, the number of respondents who arrived as refugees (either government-assisted refugees or refugee claimants) may be even higher than reported. Thirty-six per cent of respondents listed country of last permanent address as being outside of Canada; but we must remember that this includes Welcome House.
41. Although we recognize these results are not necessarily representative of the wider population, anecdotal evidence from shelter workers suggests these findings are consistent with their lived experiences.
42. Juan Pablo Mendez-Gonzalez, "Priced Out: A Profile of Tenant Households and Their Capacity to Enter Homeownership in Metropolitan Canada" (master's thesis, University of British Columbia, 2006).
43. For a more detailed discussion see Damaris Rose and Brian Ray, "The Housing Situation of Refugees in Montreal Three Years after Arrival: The Case of Asyulm Seekers Who Obtained Permanent Residence," Journal of International Migration and Integration / Revue de l'integration et de la migration internationale 2, no. 4 (2001): 493-529.
44. For a more detailed discussion see: H. Krahn, T. Derwing, M. Mulder, and L. Wilkinson, "Educated and Underemployed: Refugee Integration into the Canadian Labour Market," Journal of International Migration and Integration / Revue de l'intégration et de la migration internationale 1, no.1 (2000):59-84;
45. L. Lo, V. Preston, S. Want, K. Reil, E. Harvey, and B. Siu, Immigrants' Economic Status in Toronto: Rethinking Settlement and Integration Strategies (Full Text Version), 2001, (accessed December 2, 2002);
46. B. Abu-Laban, T. Derwing, H. Krahn, M. Mulder, and L. Wilkinson, The Settlement Experiences of Refugees in Alberta, rev. ed. Study prepared for Citizenship and Immigration Canada. (Edmonton: Prairie Centre of Excellence for Research on Immigration and Integration and Population Research Laboratory, November 15, 1999);
47. N. K. Lamba and H. Krahn, "Social Capital and Refugee Resettlement: The Social Networks of Refugees in Canada," Journal of International Migration and Integration 4, no. 3 (2003): 335-360;
48. V. Preston and G. Man, "Employment Experiences of Chinese Immigrant Women: An Exploration of Diversity," Canadian Woman Studies - les cahiers de la femme 19, no. 3 (1999): 115-122.
49. The exclusion of refugee claimants from formal English language classes means they are dependent on volunteer-run classes that lack standardized levels and focus upon survival-level English.
50. Under these rates a single parent with one child is entitled to $845 per month, while a couple with two children receives $991 per month. These rates include both basic assistance and shelter allowance. Social assistance rates increased effective April 1, 2007; the impact of these increases is yet to be seen.
51. While access to welfare is not an immigration issue per se, there exists a need to ensure that those individuals progressing through all stages of the refugee determination system have access to basic financial assistance.
52. Key informants suggest those without status do not qualify for shelters and as such may move from transition house to transition house until they eventually have no place to stay and end up on the streets or in exploitative relationships.
53. In April 2007 the Government of British Columbia increased basic shelter rates by $50 for individuals and $100 for families.
54. Average rents for two bedrooms and three bedrooms or more were $1,004 and $1,184 respectively.
55. "Statistics Canada's After Tax Low-Income Cutoffs for 2005," Ottawa: National Council of Welfare, 2006, http://www.ncwcnbes.net/en /research/povertylines/relatedfactsheets.html>; also ""BC Employment and Assistance Rate Tables," Victoria: Ministry of Employment and Income Assistance, 2006. It is important to note that recipients maybe eligible for additional income above and beyond basic welfare rates, including provincial and/or federal tax credits. For a single, employable person in 2005 this represented an additional $336. Because not all people may receive these benefits, they have not been included in our calculations.
56. "Rental Market Report: Vancouver CMA" (Ottawa: Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, 2005).
57. It is important to note that this question was asked only of those respondents not receiving help with housing. Had we asked all respondents what percentage of their household income is spent on housing, we may have received very different responses.
58. These findings echo those in the existing literature; for further discussion see Murdie and Teixeira; Miraftab; Chambon et al.; and J. Zine, Living on the Ragged Edges: Absolute and Hidden Homelessness among Latin Americans and Muslims in West Central Toronto (Toronto: Equinox Research and Consulting Services, 2002).
59. B. Ray, A Comparative Study of Immigrant Housing, Neighbourhoods and Social Networks in Toronto and Montreal (Ottawa: Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, 1998);
60. T. Owusu, "Residential Patterns and Housing Choices of Ghanaian Immigrants in Toronto, Canada," Housing Studies 14, no. 1 (1999);
61. R. Murdie, "Pathways to Housing: The Experiences of Sponsored Refugees and Refugee Claimants in Accessing Permanent Housing in Toronto," CERIS Working Paper (Toronto: York University, 2005); Zine.
62. As previously noted, claimants are often restricted to accessing voluntary English language classes which are not standardized and usually represent survival English at best. For a more detailed discussion of claimants access to social capital see D'Addario, Hiebert, and Sherrell.
63. See Miraftab for further discussion of the strategies undertaken by families in light of the lack of accommodations for large families.
64. For a more detailed discussion, see D'Addario, Hiebert, and Sherrell.