IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/joimai/v17y2016i3d10.1007_s12134-015-0444-y.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Exploring the Experiences of Newcomer Women with Insecure Housing in Montréal Canada

Author

Listed:
  • Christine A. Walsh

    (University of Calgary)

  • Jill Hanley

    (McGill University)

  • Nicole Ives

    (McGill University)

  • Shawn Renee Hordyk

    (McGill University)

Abstract

The objective of this study was to explore housing insecurity among women newcomers to Montreal, Canada. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 26 newcomer women who had experienced housing insecurity and five women’s shelter service providers. The primary cause of housing insecurity for newcomer women was inadequate income in the face of rapidly rising housing costs, coupled with unfamiliarity with the dominant culture and the local housing system. Specific events often served as tipping points for immigrant women—incidents that forced women into less secure housing. To avoid absolute homelessness, most women stayed with family, couch surfed, used women’s or educational residences, shared a room or an apartment, lived in hotels, single rented rooms, or transitional housing. These arrangements were often problematic, as crowded conditions, financial dependency, differing expectations and interpersonal conflicts made for stressful or exploitive relationships, which sometimes ended abruptly. Only two of the 26 women interviewed described their current living situation as stable. Based on the findings on the study, we recommend training for housing and immigration service providers, wrap-around services in terms of health, housing and immigration settlement programs that take into account a broad range of immigration statuses and transitional housing that caters to the specific needs of migrant women.

Suggested Citation

  • Christine A. Walsh & Jill Hanley & Nicole Ives & Shawn Renee Hordyk, 2016. "Exploring the Experiences of Newcomer Women with Insecure Housing in Montréal Canada," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 17(3), pages 887-904, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:joimai:v:17:y:2016:i:3:d:10.1007_s12134-015-0444-y
    DOI: 10.1007/s12134-015-0444-y
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s12134-015-0444-y
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s12134-015-0444-y?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Boudarbat, Brahim & Gontero, Sonia Ines, 2008. "Offre de travail des femmes mariées immigrantes au Canada," L'Actualité Economique, Société Canadienne de Science Economique, vol. 84(2), pages 129-153, juin.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Abe Oudshoorn & Sarah Benbow & Matthew Meyer, 2020. "Resettlement of Syrian Refugees in Canada," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 21(3), pages 893-908, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Brahim Boudarbat & Marie Connolly, 2013. "Évolution de l'accès à l'emploi et des conditions de travail des immigrants au Québec, en Ontario et en Colombie-Britannique entre 2006 et 2012," CIRANO Working Papers 2013s-28, CIRANO.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:joimai:v:17:y:2016:i:3:d:10.1007_s12134-015-0444-y. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.