Individual Autonomy or Dispersion in Housing Policy? The Effect of Migrant Networks in Self-Selected Housing on Labour Market Outcomes in Sweden

Abstract This study examines how two housing policy options in Sweden, namely government-assigned accommodation and self-selected housing, affect refugees’ housing conditions, employment status, and income. Drawing on migrant network theory, we argue that refugees who find their own housing are more likely to access social ties that support faster integration into the labour market. We use administrative and survey data on over 16,000 Syrian and Iraqi refugees granted residence in 2016, and we find that those in self-selected housing are, on average, more likely to be employed and to earn higher annual incomes than those in government-assigned housing. Introducing novel survey data, we also assess housing quality, security of tenure, and economic outcomes in neighbourhoods officially classified as areas with “socio-economic challenges”. While incomes are generally lower in these areas, refugees in self-selected housing still perform better than those in government-assigned housing. These findings highlight the importance of social networks for economic integration and raise concerns about how vulnerability classifications are applied in Swedish housing policy.