Between the inclusion and exclusion of immigrants in a peripheral European country: Housing inequality in Portugal

Abstract

The understanding of immigrants as disadvantaged low-skilled workers has been widely explored in migration studies. On the opposite end of the social ladder, the number of scientific works about privileged migrants, from highly skilled professionals to retired people and digital nomads, shows a significant increase. However, migration research fails to expose and debate the sharp contrast between immigrants with distinct economic and socio-professional backgrounds across several dimensions, namely in housing. With the aim to better understand the manifestations and interconnections of immigration within urban transformations, this study analyses the polarities between immigrants in the housing sector in Portugal, a peripheral European nation that recently acquired the status of a country of immigration and where access to housing has been a structural problem. Furthermore, this text discusses the impact of public policies on the generation of those inequalities. With this, we expect to contribute to the debate on the unequal power and positions of distinct groups of immigrants and their constraints in the housing market, taking into consideration processes of inclusion and exclusion.