UCLA

Housing affordability and fair housing are critical issues for minority residents in many cities and regions around the world. Yet little is known about the housing experiences of migrant urban residents facing potentially precarious conditions, what adaptation strategies they develop, and what factors affect these strategies, especially during times of economic or other crises. This dissertation focuses on the case of Athens, Greece in the early 2010s, during a period of major socioeconomic crisis for the country and when adaptation strategies might have been most needed, and examines and contrasts the experiences of recent migrants to Athens who had come to the city from non-EU and lower-income origins to those of Greek residents. It employs a mixed-methods approach to 1) inquire about their housing experiences, 2) analyze their adaptation strategies, and 3) compare their experiences to those of Greek participants. It contributes to the literature on housing by offering user-based perspectives on housing affordability during the crisis, rental housing discrimination based on migration status, as well as adaptation strategies of recent migrant urban residents. The findings indicate an increased lack of housing affordability, amounting to an invisible housing crisis in the city particularly affecting low-income and minority renters, the omnipresence of housing discrimination for minority participants, and the development of a wide variety of adaptation strategies from the part of the minority participants despite factors limiting them. These findings suggest that minority groups experiences and adaptation strategies, as well as the multi-dimensional effects of housing affordability and fair housing, merit more attention and that the development of inclusive and fair housing policies is pertinent during crises and beyond them.