Solutions & Models

Architecture Students Propose New Housing Solutions

A project featuring architecture students from the University of Buffalo sought to build on existing housing solutions in Uganda to provide concrete new approaches that would expand access to safe and decent housing for refugees. The new solutions include combining elements from “primitive” and modular housing structures, using available local materials, reducing hardware and construction material costs in different ways, and putting different porotypes to the test.

How Refugee Camps Become Urbanized

A recent study suggests that policy makers should rethink the nature of the refugee camp, in particular by looking at refugee camps through the lenses of urbanization processes, the fluid relationship between informality/formality, and governance. The study empirically focuses on the Al Nasr camp in Jordan. It shows that Al Nasr has undergone urbanization through various processes, including the establishment of weekly fresh food markets, and a degree of economic interdependence between formal and informal utility service providers.

Addressing Housing for Asylum Seekers Requires Multiple Assistance Tracks, New Study Suggests

A recent study suggests a new perspective for assessing housing outcomes for asylum seekers in Spain, namely by looking at how housing outcomes are mediated by community networks, NGOs, and private landlords, housing markets, and the asylum reception system. The study recommends a “fundamental need to adapt the reception system to the different profiles of asylum seekers. This would necessarily entail not only lengthening the time frame of each phase in cases of need, but also creating specific tracks for people in situations of high vulnerability.”

A Model for Sustainable, Decent, and Affordable Housing

Biotope Cohousing Project is a sustainable, attractive, circular, and social housing project in Ghent, Belgium. It is the largest cohousing project in the region of Flanders. It is a good concrete example of affordability and truly inclusive housing, welcoming both refugees and established residents.

Buffer Capacity in Reception Systems

Buffer capacity refers to maintaining a reserve of reception places that can be activated or deactivated in response to fluctuating asylum arrivals. In Belgium, this approach has been promoted as a way to balance fiscal responsibility with preparedness: when arrivals decrease, capacity can be scaled down to control costs, while still preserving the ability to respond quickly to future increases.

From a housing perspective, buffer systems rely on flexible and reversible accommodation solutions that can be repurposed when no longer needed for reception. This reduces the disruptive cycle of emergency openings and closures and encourages planning for post-reception uses, such as transit housing or affordable housing stock.

While still unevenly implemented, the buffer approach points toward a more adaptive reception system that treats variability as a structural reality rather than an exception.

Modular and Relocatable Housing Districts

Modular and relocatable housing provides a fast, flexible way to accommodate displaced people while maintaining decent living standards. The Mrija project in the Rotterdam–Rijnmond region is a purpose-built district of nearly 400 high-quality flex homes housing up to 1,000 displaced Ukrainians until mid‑2026. Allocation is coordinated regionally in cooperation with municipalities, ensuring that placements align with local reception planning rather than relying on individual applications.

What distinguishes this model is its integration of everyday services that support independence and social inclusion. On-site location management teams, supported by social workers, provide practical assistance, access to healthcare, schooling, and employment guidance. The housing itself—small apartments in low-rise buildings, fully furnished and well connected to public transport—resembles ordinary neighbourhood living rather than institutional reception.

Crucially, these units are designed for reuse. Once the reception phase ends, the homes can be relocated or repurposed for other housing needs, such as affordable housing or “tiny house” schemes, ensuring long-term public value beyond the immediate displacement context.

Host Family and Community Matching Platforms

Host family and community-based accommodation offers an alternative to collective reception centers by matching displaced people with private households willing to provide temporary housing. TakeCareBnB illustrates how a volunteer-driven initiative can scale nationally through partnerships with governments, municipalities, faith-based organizations, and NGOs. The platform supports screening, matching, and follow-up, reducing administrative burdens for both hosts and authorities.

This approach is particularly effective in the early stages of displacement, when speed is essential and formal capacity is limited. Staying with host families can strengthen social connections, improve well-being, and help newcomers navigate local systems more quickly than large-scale centers.

To remain sustainable, host-based models require ongoing coordination, monitoring, and access to support services. As such, they work best as a complementary element within a broader reception system, rather than as a standalone solution.

A Nationwide Housing Capacity Building and Innovation Project

Refugee Housing Solutions works to increase access to dignified affordable housing for refugees and other newcomers to the United States. Their projects include an innovative Housing Hub and Directory, Resource Library, and innovative partnerships.

Emergency Preparedness and Surge Housing Planning

Emergency preparedness models aim to ensure that housing capacity can be rapidly expanded during sudden increases in arrivals. Finland’s national preparedness framework for mass migration provides a structured, forward-looking example. A central planning benchmark is that each region should be ready to accommodate new arrivals equivalent to at least two percent of its population, creating a clear and measurable readiness target.

Preparation focuses on advance mapping of buildings and sites that can be activated quickly, such as public facilities or underused properties, and on regular coordination between municipalities, migration authorities, and other actors — even during periods of low arrivals. This reduces reliance on ad hoc emergency measures and costly last-minute solutions.

Clear and neutral public communication is also treated as essential. By normalizing preparedness as part of routine governance, authorities seek to maintain public trust and social cohesion when migration pressures increase.

PATHS: Support for Transitioning to Sustainable Housing | IOM, Belgium, France

The PATHS project (Providing Assistance for Transitioning Housing Solutions) is a pilot initiative led by IOM, Belgium, and France. It focuses on helping beneficiaries of international protection — particularly those leaving reception systems — successfully transition into stable, autonomous housing in the private market.

The initiative addresses a persistent challenge: even after protection status is granted, many people find it very difficult to secure housing in constrained rental markets, risking homelessness. PATHS combines housing matching platforms, capacity building for intermediary organizations, and stakeholder engagement with landlords, real-estate actors, diaspora groups and community organizations to create more inclusive access to the housing stock. PATHS also works closely with related efforts like community sponsorship schemes, amplifying local networks that support newcomers’ access to housing and broader social integration. By linking supply and demand in new ways and building awareness among key actors, the project aims to prevent homelessness and smooth the shift from reception systems to long-term accommodation.

Migrant Resource and Transit Centers | IOM

Migrant resource and transit centers form part of route-based approaches to protection, particularly in countries of origin, transit, and return. Embedded within IOM’s Migrant Resource and Response Mechanisms (MRRMs), these centers provide short-term accommodation alongside protection, health, information, and reintegration services, at the request of host governments and in alignment with national systems.

Housing in these centers is designed to respond to high and continuous transit flows and varies by context — from large transit centers in remote areas to smaller reception facilities in urban hubs. All facilities are expected to meet minimum humanitarian standards and to include specific arrangements for vulnerable groups, such as families, women, and unaccompanied children.

Where collective centers are unsuitable, alternative accommodation models are used, including private apartments, hotels, or guesthouses supported through rent subsidies or cash-based assistance. Together, these approaches demonstrate how housing solutions can be adapted to different stages of migration while supporting continuity of protection.