Housing Accessibility among International Migrants in Germany: Identifying Affordable Housing Strategies and Pathways to Housing among African Refugees - A case study in Erfurt.

Over the past years, Germany has been notably recognized for their humanitarian effort in being one of the nations that host a high number of refugees worldwide. This includes African refugees who have fled dilapidating circumstances in search of safe asylum in Germany. The German refugee policy allows asylum seekers to undergo rigorous procedures in an attempt to ensure safety, accountability and effective integration, by first providing initial reception accommodation for a time and then releases approved refugees to search and find their accommodation. Considering the tight and competitive rental housing market in Germany, African refugees who are known to be at the bottom group of low-income and vulnerable groups, have to compete with local residents including other low-income groups in German cities to secure accommodations. Research points out that attaining permanent housing by refugees takes a series of housing consumption due to certain barriers. Hence it is then imperative to find out what primary barriers to housing accessibility are identified by African refugees in Erfurt and the major strategies they employ to overcome these barriers in accessing affordable housing in Germany. Also to ascertain the possible pathways of housing among African refugees from the onset of arrival in Germany to their current housing status in their attempt to access the housing market in Erfurt. To reach this objective, the pathways to housing theoretical framework was adopted to provide the practical blueprint for the study. In addition, a case study approach was applied, which involved semi-structured interviews with African refugees, an expert from Erfurt's Department of Urban Development and Planning, and a social worker from the Caritas Organization in Erfurt. The results from the data concluded that two major strategies are utilized among African refugees to find housing in Erfurt, that is the self-assisted pathway (internet-based and smartphone strategy) and the locally assisted pathways (community organization support strategy). In addition, the results also suggest that the possible pathways to housing among African refugees in Erfurt entail four major stages: accommodation provided by social networks or organizations upon arrival, initial reception facilities, temporary accommodation, and current accommodation. This implies a different pathway to housing compared to other cities due to the nature and structure of the rental housing market in Erfurt.