Sammendraget (Abstract) beskriver tematikken i artikkelen.
Abstract:
Europe in general continues to have difficulty in absorbing the ongoing influx of economic migrants from less advanced Continents. The purpose of this paper is to assess whether welfare traditions in Spain and Norway can explain differences between them regarding social housing policies for refugees at the local community level. Alicante in Spain and Moss in Norway are our cases, and we have used both documents and interviews throughout the study. We have found that local Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) in Alicante play the dominant role, whereas it is the municipality in this respect in Moss. These different roles fit perfectly into the welfare programs operated in both countries, while similarities that we have found have its roots in Spain’s and Norway’s obligations according to United Nations conventions. We argue that certain housing challenges for refugees do not relate to welfare traditions, but to some refugees hope to return to their home country (both cases), while others wish to travel to another European country (in the case of Spain).