| dc.description.abstract | The large amount of incoming refugees in the Netherlands is obliging national and local governments to be quick and creative in finding solutions to housing shortages, especially in the category of social housing. Alternative housing solutions are being applied, such as the use of empty dwellings and shared housing. One of those alternative solutions appeared in the municipality of Nijmegen. An old student residence in the village Lent has been transformed in a four-year residence for ninety-six Eritrean male permit holders. Remarkable is that the dwellings are actually not situated within the village, but on a remote and isolated location outside of it. The question is how these Eritrean permit holders can integrate in Dutch society when mostly people from their own country of origin surround them? Many scholars argue that permit holders who live in a residential segregated area are likely to integrate at a slower pace than those who live in a regular neighbourhood a neighbourhood in a city or village where one is surrounded by people of varied ethnic backgrounds. To verify this hypothesis, I have done qualitative research on the following central research question: what is the influence of housing and the neighbourhood on the social integration of Eritrean permit holders living in the municipality of Nijmegen? I have compared two different groups Eritrean permit holders living in the ethnic segregated neighbourhood in Lent and those who live in a multi-ethnic neighbourhood in or nearby Nijmegen. I have examined several factors involved in social integration processes, including the housing area, housing composition, population composition, home-making, ethnic and interethnic contact, social capital, social trust, and social cohesion. It has appeared that the opposite of what scholars argue reveals to be true. Those in the segregated neighbourhood seem to have access to more social capital and more resources, which is crucial to be able to integrate on a social level. | |
