Overview of Refugees’ access to housing in France: the metropoles of Lyon and Rennes

This work is the country research report prepared within Work Package 2, focused on housing solutions for refugees and beneficiaries of international protection status in France, delivered under the H2020 project MERGING—Integration for Migrants. The main objectives of this report are to: • Map the actions, scope, actors and resources involved in the access to housing for refugees • Portrait refugees' needs and households • Provide recommendations to associative, private and public stakeholders Our report describes the actions engaged to favor refugees' access to housing in two French metropoles: Lyon and Rennes. Our study highlighted the existence of three different types of actions: actions impulsed by the gouvernement (top-down), actions developed by local actors and implemented at the national level (down-up) and actions developed by local actors and implemented at the local level (horizontal). We point the limits of the current system, segregating people based on their perceived desirability and autonomy as well as on their age and gender. Our report describes the multilevel governance existing regarding refugees' access to housing in Lyon and Rennes. Based on Czischke (2018) multilevel governance model, we map stakeholders based on three dimensions (civil society, public authorities and markets) at both the local, regional and national levels. Six types of actors are identified: professional actors mandated by the government, professional actors operating without official mandate, confessional associations, civil initiatives, professional activists, and other types of actors. Interestingly, our report points the heterogeneity of actions and situations existing on the French soil regarding refugees' access and participation to housing. While national actors tend to standardize procedures by implementing a single policy to the overall population of refugees, local actors try to adapt to individual needs and situations. The decentralization engaged by the French government a couple of years ago has two major consequences. First, it tends to raise competition among associations to get public subventions and – thus – the influence and decision power of those that received official mandate. Second, it increases the fragmentation of the French reception scheme and the heterogeneity of actors and procedures among territories. Our reports highlights differences in the way refugees are taking (or not) part in the allocation process locally, and regarding the consideration of their needs.