Comparative Studies
Non-EU Migrant Homelessness
Comparative Studies on Homelessness 14
This report is the fourteenth in a series of comparative studies led by the European Observatory on Homelessness (EOH), which operates under the auspices of FEANTSA, the European Federation of Homelessness Organisations. It focuses on homelessness among non-EU migrants, including asylum seekers, refugees and undocumented migrants.
The study examines existing evidence on the relationship between migration from outside the EU and homelessness, as well as current policy and practice in 16 EU Member States, with some comparisons drawn with the UK.
Summary
- This report is the 14 th in an annual series of comparative studies of homelessness in Europe, conducted by the European Observatory on Homelessness (EOH). The Observatory operates under the auspices of FEANTSA, the European Federation of National Organisations Working with People Experiencing Homelessness.
- The research focuses on homelessness among non-EU migrants. The report looks at homelessness among people seeking asylum, people granted refugee status and other forms of international protection and people who are classified as irregular migrants.
- This report looks at the available data on the nature and extent of non-EU migrant homelessness and how this varies between EU Member States. It also seeks to understand the systems in place to respond to non-EU migrant homelessness, their strengths and their limitations and how this varies across individual EU Member States. The report also explores the specific challenges of experiencing homelessness in Europe for people who are non-EU migrants, looking at questions linked to varying legal entitlements and associated differences in support.
- Previous research has highlighted gaps in data on non-EU migrant homelessness, highlighted the extent to which it happens outside mainstream services when someone is classified as an irregular migrant and shown political tensions between a humanitarian response towards homelessness and maintaining EU border control. The last EOH research on asylum seekers and refugees experiencing homelessness in 2016 reported marked variations in the nature of the issue and how it was responded to, with a far more significant problem in some Member States than in others.
- The available data on non-EU migrant homelessness need to be treated with some caution. Some sources of information suggest high levels of non-EU migrants in some homeless populations, e.g. people living rough in European capitals and other major cities, but these data are not representative of wider experience of homelessness, which strongly indicates that most European homelessness is experienced by Europeans. 1 Non-EU migrant homelessness is a real social issue, especially in certain EU Member States, but most European homelessness is not associated with migration.
- The research uses a comparative questionnaire prepared by EOH. Experts from 16 Member States and UK were asked to summarise research, data and, where necessary, conduct a small number of interviews to describe the nature and extent of asylum seekers, refugees and undocumented migrants from outside the EU. The Member States included were Austria; Belgium; Czechia; Denmark; France; Germany; Greece; Hungary; Ireland; Italy; Netherlands; Poland; Portugal; Slovenia, Spain and Sweden and additionally the UK.
- Levels of non-EU migration vary markedly between EU Member States. In many EU Member States, non-EU immigration is low, while in others it is significantly higher. The extent of homelessness among people who are non-EU migrants naturally varies with the levels of overall migration in each Member State. People seeking asylum are often not granted international protection status by EU Member States. There were 998 530 applications for Asylum in the EU in 2024.
- Unaccompanied minors (children without parents, guardians or other relatives) arrive at much lower levels than other non-EU migrants, but still numbered over 37 000 people under 18 in 2024.
- Data on the nature and extent of the populations from outside the EU who are classified as irregular migrants are very limited at EU level and in most EU Member States.
- The degree of risk of homelessness among non-EU migrant populations who are allowed to settle in EU Member States is not a constant, i.e. not everyone will be at heightened risk of homelessness, while others may face multiple barriers to securing settled housing. Previous research has indicated the key risks associated specifically with migration status is when someone cannot access either informal support or formal support because they have left their familial, friendship and community networks behind and because they are not entitled to and/or face multiple barriers to formal social protection systems and to labour markets.
- People seeking international protection were generally in separate systems and there was not a marked overlap with homelessness services in most of the 16 EU Member States included in this research. However, in Belgium, Ireland and Greece, there were reports of people seeking international protection experiencing homelessness, as a separate processes had been cut back or overwhelmed. In France and in the Netherlands, there was a de facto policy to use emergency accommodation provided to ensure a basic right to shelter to supplement the systems for accommodating people seeking asylum.
- Standards in systems for people seeking asylum were very often criticised. While the people living in these systems were not administratively, legally or politically recognised as experiencing homelessness while awaiting an asylum decision, they were generally not housed, but were in various forms of temporary accommodation.
- Data on the extent of homelessness among people granted international protection were generally quite limited among the 16 EU Member States participating in the research. However, heightened risks of homelessness were reported when people left asylum seeker accommodation after being given international protection status and when any additional housing support for people granted international protection status came to an end. If support was withdrawn quickly once international protection status was granted, the risks were reportedly higher.
- Language barriers, cultural differences and administrative variation and complexity made it more difficult for people with international protection status to find and keep suitable housing, within the wider context of a pan-EU shortage in affordable homes. Low income and poverty heightened these risks. Racism and cultural intolerance were barriers to some housing. Local connection rules, i.e. showing a certain period of residence in a municipality/local authority area before qualifying for assistance could also be an obstacle to getting settled housing.
- For non-EU migrants given international protection status, delays in regularisation, i.e. in entering the same position as a citizen in a EU Member State in terms of their access to services, to administrative systems, to paid work, education, welfare, health and other services created specific risks of homelessness that were associated with their legal and administrative status.
- Services for unaccompanied minors were variable, some EU Member States absorbed them into child protection systems, while in others specialist provision was made. The extent of any homelessness was uncertain, but there were criticisms of the quality of many of these systems. Risks of homelessness may have been increased when they stopped receiving support at 18. Some countries applied strict tests to ensure someone was under 18 before offering support, should the unaccompanied person appear to be adult.
- There was little or no provision for people classified as irregular migrants experiencing homelessness, with only very basic services being available, on a highly inconsistent basis between different Member States. Again, data were limited, because by its very nature, non-EU irregular migrant homelessness was not out in the open in the 16 EU Member States included in this research.
- Risks of homelessness among Ukrainians granted temporary protection were least in those among the 16 EU Member States that had provided considerable support when people had arrived who were escaping the Russian invasion. Where the level of support was lower, Ukrainians were more likely to be in situations in which they were in temporary accommodation, living with host families in circumstances that might otherwise be classed as hidden homelessness. Where support was negligible or being cut back severely, then the risks of homelessness increased. This said, widespread homelessness amongst Ukrainians was not being reported in the 16 EU Member States included in this research in 2025.
- Gaps in evidence, data and understanding exist at every level in relation to non-EU migrant homelessness and these need to be addressed in order to develop a better understanding and response. Non-EU migrant homelessness is not a single issue, because this is a highly diverse population, who will have varying degrees of risk of experiencing homelessness. There is also marked variation between EU Member States on the extent of any problems with non-EU migrant homelessness and significant differences in practice. Nevertheless, the broad findings that non-EU migrants were at risk of homelessness if they received support for too short a period of time, or did not get enough support or faced delays in integration into their host country when granted international protection status, applied across all 16 EU Member States.