Mithila Karmaker, University of Queensland

Housing pathways of Bangladeshi new immigrants to Australia: experiences and barriers

Home and housing play a central role in the settlement process of new immigrants. Previous studies suggest that many experience difficult housing situations during the early stages of their settlement. This is especially the case for groups who are culturally distant from the dominant group of the host country. Not only do these immigrant groups need to negotiate a new housing system, but these challenges can be exacerbated by their attempts to adjust to the new society. Research has demonstrated that new immigrants from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds prefer to obtain housing close to the network of the people from similar cultural background. However, the housing journey of immigrants in the early years of settlement has been reported to differ between cultural groups.

While there is a strong tradition of studying the subjective housing experiences of new immigrants in receiving range of countries, a paucity of this research explores the experiences of new immigrants within the housing literature of Australia. This study draws upon different concepts and theories to contextualise the manner in which new immigrants experience housing. It aims to explore the housing experiences of newly arrived immigrants from a specific cultural group such as Bangladeshis who have a different demographic, cultural and religious orientation from that of dominant ‘white’ Australians. Through the lens of housing pathways, the study aims to capture the subjective experiences associated with immigrants’ housing consumption, along with the physical condition of their housing, during the early stages of settlement. It focuses on understanding the housing difficulties that some immigrants face, and the community ties and other services that help them in coping with that difficult housing situation.

Mithila Karmaker - mithila.karmaker@uqconnect.edu.au

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