IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v372y2025ics0277953625002722.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Housing and wellbeing: Long-term precarious housing trajectories following humanitarian migration and resettlement

Author

Listed:
  • McShane, Sheenagh
  • Li, Ang
  • Block, Karen
  • Bentley, Rebecca

Abstract

Housing experiences upon settlement can shape refugee mental health and wellbeing; however, little is known of how housing precarity evolves as refugees establish their new lives and how it affects their wellbeing. We use longitudinal data (Building a New Life in Australia, n = 2,399) over five years (2013–18) to identify refugee housing trajectories in relation to housing precarity (measured by unaffordability, unsuitability, and insecurity) and mental wellbeing. Using multi-trajectory modelling, two distinct housing trajectories were identified: precariously (12 %) and well-housed (88 %). Precariously housed refugees reported significantly worse mental health (29 % higher risk in psychological distress, (95 %CI: 7 %, 51 %). Being female, financial hardship, low social support, and no support finding housing were risk factors for persistent precarious housing. Benchmarked against national data, the housing circumstances of refugees were less favorable than those of the lowest income quintile Australian population. Findings suggest the need for additional settlement support and access to secure housing to promote refugee wellbeing.

Suggested Citation

  • McShane, Sheenagh & Li, Ang & Block, Karen & Bentley, Rebecca, 2025. "Housing and wellbeing: Long-term precarious housing trajectories following humanitarian migration and resettlement," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 372(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:372:y:2025:i:c:s0277953625002722
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.117943
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953625002722
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.117943?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.

    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:eee:socmed:v:372:y:2025:i:c:s0277953625002722. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    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.