Refugees, homelessness and the ‘move-on’ process

Eykyn, Sasha 2025. Refugees, homelessness and the ‘move-on’ process. Social Sciences 14 (11) , 675. 10.3390/socsci14110675

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Abstract

In the UK, there are significant gaps in our understanding of the systems, processes and procedures that govern access to housing among refugees. Responding to these gaps, this paper presents research findings that offer insights into the institutional coordination of homelessness and housing insecurity in the lives of newly granted refugees navigating the ‘move-on’ process in Wales. Drawing on data from focus groups, peer research, practitioner interviews, observation and text analysis, this paper takes an approach informed by Institutional Ethnography (IE) to examine the gaps between refugees’ lived experiences of homelessness and housing precarity and what is happening institutionally in terms of homelessness prevention and response. In doing so, this paper shows the ‘move-on’ process to be a disruptive mechanism of forced displacement into homelessness and precarious housing. Meanwhile, the institutional preoccupation with private rented sector solutions shifts the focus away from what is politically ‘off the table’ for newly granted refugees in terms of state homelessness response. Ultimately, this paper calls for a reframing of homelessness prevention strategies to account for the institutional processes that variably condition refugee displacement following a grant of status in the UK.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Published Online
Status:	Published
Schools:	Schools > Geography and Planning (GEOPL)
Additional Information:	License information from Publisher: LICENSE 1: URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, Start Date: 2025-11-19
Publisher:	MDPI
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	2 December 2025
Date of Acceptance:	14 November 2025
Last Modified:	02 Dec 2025 12:45
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/182828

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