LoReMi: Local Responses to Precarious Migrants: Frames, Strategies and Evolving Practices in Europe
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Oxford
Department Name: Sch of Anthropology & Museum Ethnography
Abstract
This project aims at mapping and enhancing local strategies to address the exclusion from essential services of migrants with precarious residential status. It will explore the challenges migrants face, emphasising the particular experiences of women, the services available in some cities such as healthcare and shelter, and the rationales for them. Case studies in Cardiff, Frankfurt and Vienna, in partnership with city councils and consultation with stakeholders, will explore differing approaches to provision within contrasting legal frameworks, including collaboration between public services and civil society. The project will strengthen transnational networking and knowledge exchange, to inform and enhance future practice.
People |
ORCID iD |
| Sarah Spencer (Principal Investigator) |
Publications
Homberger, A
(2022)
Local Responses to Migrants with Precarious Legal Status: Negotiating Inclusive Practices in Cities Across Europe.
in Journal of Migration Studies (Zeitschrift für Migrationsforschung)
| Description | The study has revealed the factors which influence municipal responses to migrants with a precarious immigration status in Europe. It has shown, drawing on evidence from Cardiff, Frankfurt and Vienna, the impact of the complexity of national legal frameworks (leading to lack of clarity on entitlements to public services); the mitigating impacts of inclusive regional provisions; the impacts of structural factors such as a shortage of housing; and the resource and capacity constraints of municipal authorities. It has provided evidence on the differing responses of the three cities and of departments within them; on their relationships with (and reliance on) non-governmental organisations in relation to service provision; and the barriers that precarious migrants experience in accessing those limited services to which they are intended to have access. Capacity to provide legal advice to address the underlying cause of precarious immigration status was limited. The policy responses during the Covid 10 pandemic were found to be significant in each city, beyond protection of public health. |
| Exploitation Route | The relevance of these findings for municipalities across Europe is assured by the differing size, remits and governance arrangements of the three cities, from different countries, that were the focus of the study. |
| Sectors | Education,Healthcare,Government, Democracy and Justice |
| URL | https://www.compas.ox.ac.uk/project/loremi/ |
| Description | Our partnership with a City Council and third sector stakeholders during the course of the research has fostered a positive dialogue on the issues that we are investigating, bringing together on three occasions a group of public and NGO service providers with a common interest but who would not normally have a means to meet on a regular basis. At the final meeting to discuss the implications of our findings, in 2022, the Council indicated that it would bring the group together again to consider whether and how the many recommendations from the study could be taken forward. We hope to report further on this at a later date. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2021 |
| Sector | Government, Democracy and Justice |
| Impact Types | Policy & public services |
| Description | European conference, Frankfurt |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The final conference of the project, held in Frankfurt in September 2022, to discuss policy and practice implications with policy makers from European institutions and national, regional and municipal authorities in Europe. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Meeting of council staff and NGO stakeholders with UK, Austrian and German research teams |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
| Results and Impact | To explore the policy and practice implications of the UK research findings, in a European context |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Second Stakeholder meeting |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
| Results and Impact | Follow up meeting with public and third sector service providers, hosted by our partner Cardiff City Council, on 26 January 2022, to report back on the emerging findings from our fieldwork and get feedback on the findings as well as suggestions for further interviewees for the ongoing research. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Stakeholder meeting |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
| Results and Impact | Hosted by our partner, Cardiff City Council, on 23 September 2021, for the purpose of consultation with public and third sector service providers in Cardiff on our proposed research on service provision to precarious migrants in order to understand the range of issues these stakeholders, and precarious migrants they interact with, are addressing; identify gaps in the existing evidence base; and engage their interest and participation in the forthcoming fieldwork. Held online because of COVID. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |