Overlap of migrants' housing and neighbourhood mobility

Abstract

Although much valuable research has been carried out on the patterns and determinants of immigrant distribution in residential space, nuanced longitudinal studies that focus on the interdependencies between housing and neighbourhood mobility are rare. In the current study, we examine the residential integration of immigrants in the Helsinki metropolitan area by studying the overlap between housing mobility (entering homeownership) and neighbourhood mobility (moving to above-average income neighbourhoods) in the context of complex anti-segregation and mixing policies. The results reveal that the overlap between housing and neighbourhood mobility in such a policy context is weak; while moving to a wealthier neighbourhood is relatively easy, it is much more challenging to enter homeownership. It follows that successful policies of residential integration of migrants should emphasize both housing mobility and neighbourhood mobility, including how the two are related to each other.

Keywords:

• Immigrants
• residential segregation
• longitudinal data
• housing mobility
• neighbourhood mobility
• Finland

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s). 

Table

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Karin Torpan

Karin Torpan is an human geography doctoral student in the Universities of Tartu and Turku. Her research focuses on housing and neighbourhood changes and residential integration and include ethnic and socio-economic segregation and studies of return migration intentions. In the frame of her doctoral studies research focuses mainly on the context of the Nordic country – Finland, where many Estonians have migrated.

Anastasia Sinitsyna

Anastasia Sinitsyna is 4th year doctoral student and junior research fellow in School of Economics and Business Administration. Her research interests rely on topics of labour market integration as well as social inclusion of immigrants with focus on Nordic countries.

Anneli Kährik

Anneli Kährik (PhD in Human Geography, 2006) is a senior researcher at the Centre for Migration and Urban Studies, University of Tartu. Her research interests are socio-economic and ethnic segregation, residential mobility and migration, integration, urban and neighbourhood change, housing and urban policy.

Timo M. Kauppinen

Timo M. Kauppinen is a research manager at the Social Policy Research Unit in the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare. His research is related to social inequalities, particularly related to housing, residential segregation and intergenerational inequalities.

Tiit Tammaru

Tiit Tammaru is the professor of Urban and Population Geography, in University of Tartu and also a Member of Estonian Academy of Sciences. His research interests include migration, residential mobility, housing, relations between social inequalities and socioeconomic segregation, as well as comparative segregation studies. He is developing the concept of vicious circles of segregation to understand segregation across different life domains.