Multiple geographies of precarity: Accommodation policies for asylum seekers in metropolitan Athens, Greece

Abstract

Since early 2016, in the context of the so-called ‘refugee crisis’, a series of accommodation policies for asylum seekers were developed in Greece under the regime of ‘emergency’, consisting of two pillars: On the one hand, the ‘campisation’ of accommodation in the mainland and, on the other hand, urban apartments. This article sheds light on the uneven geographies of accommodation policies for asylum seekers in metropolitan Athens, by investigating in a complementary way the aforementioned distinct – yet intertwined – types of accommodation. Through the lens of ‘precarity of place’, it argues that asylum accommodation in Athens reproduces multiple geographies of precarity through (a) filtering mechanisms based mainly on vulnerability categorisations, (b) socio-spatial isolation and segregation, and (c) a no-choice basis and extensive control of everyday habitation. The article explores the impact of the above on the everyday lives, socio-spatial relationships, and processes of belonging of asylum seekers, as well as on how they experience – and sometimes contest – precarity of place. The research, conducted in metropolitan Athens, is based on a mixed-methods approach that includes critical policy analysis and interviews with asylum seekers accommodated in camps and apartments, and representatives of institutional actors involved in the accommodation sector.

Arrival Infrastructures: Segregation of Displaced Migrants and Processes of Urban Change in Athens

“…Kreichauf (2018) [64] coined the term 'infrastructures of forced arrival' to highlight the stabilization of temporary, enlarged, remotely located, and spatially isolated camps with lowered living standards. Qualitative research in Athens has revealed the detrimental effects of the location and the physical structures of camps on access to basic services and on eroding the liveability and autonomy of asylum seekers [37,64] and is compatible to our quantitative findings.…”

“…The reception system expanded rapidly to include two types of accommodation infrastructure alongside the implementation of the hot-spot approach in the Aegean islands. On the one hand, Open Temporary Reception Facilities ("Sites") were created in isolated areas in mainland Greece, suburban and peri-urban areas in Athens, which were turned into sites of prolonged displacement [37]. On the other hand, urban accommodation in apartments, hotels, and other buildings in the city of Athens, and other Greek cities, was a social innovation introduced through a specially designed program (ESTIA).…”

“…On the other hand, urban accommodation in apartments, hotels, and other buildings in the city of Athens, and other Greek cities, was a social innovation introduced through a specially designed program (ESTIA). ESTIA (Emergency Support to Integration and Accommodation) (2017-2022) was a program of housing vulnerable asylum seekers in the urban fabric under the auspices of UNHCR, EU funding, and implementation by municipalities and NGOs, and has aspired hopes for establishing a distinctive form of social housing by reserving a pool of private properties for affordable renting [15,37,38]. Two competing rationales shape the establishment and management of 'sites' (camp-like) and urban accommodation infrastructures as a response to global changes, the management of the Great recession, and the inflow of displaced migrants [36].…”

Introduction: Challenging Mobilities, Greece and the EU in Times of Crises

“…Duszczyk et al, 2020;Gregurović & Župarić-Iljić, 2018). Recent works on Greece remain limited in covering the complexities of the issues in relation to the crises; they address policy related issues, including those concerning basic needs and work (Afouxenidis et al, 2017;Bagavos & Kourachanis, 2021;Frangiskou et al, 2020;Manou et al, 2021;Papatzani et al, 2022). Chapters 13, 14 and 15 of Part V add to the above literature with fresh perspectives on the perennial integration challenges Greece was faced with during a period of consecutive crises, including the pandemic of Covid-19.…”

The Socioeconomic Integration of People in Need of International Protection: A Spatial Approach in the Case of Greece

“…Platts-Fowler and Robinson (2015) found that integration can evolve in distinctive ways in different places because it is grounded and embodied in space and place. Regarding regulated accommodation, uneven geographies increase precarity (Papatzani et al 2021). Kreichauf (2018) argues that accommodation inside camps separates population, excludes migrants spatially and legally, and stabilizes temporality, marking immigrants as a shortterm phenomenon.…”