This book examines the lived housing experiences of recently arrived migrants living in inner city, town and small town locations in Ireland. Building on the concept of 'housing careers', this book provides the first comprehensive analysis of migrants' 'housing pathways'.
The housing pathways approach has not been applied comprehensively in the Irish or international contexts and is largely absent from discourses surrounding the lived housing experiences of migrants. Therefore, this book addresses areas of policy analysis that are underdeveloped, notably in terms of the perceptions of households and their reactions to discourses and policy mechanisms based on them. In doing so, the book examines not only the outcome of policy, but the way in which it influences the practices of migrant households. It also builds on the literature related to the meaning of housing by outlining the links between housing, lifestyle and identity.
The book includes chapters on the structure and functioning of migrant households; the pertinent interconnections between migrant housing and employment; the relationship between migrants and the physical aspects of their housing and its location; migrant housing in terms of lifestyle and identity and the implications that the 'housing pathways approach' reveals for migrants and housing policy. It will be of considerable interest to students and policy makers in the fields of social policy, sociology, migration, planning and public administration, and to anyone who wishes to learn more about migrants' experiences of housing in Ireland.

Brian Portley is a Researcher in the School of Applied Social Sciences, University College Dublin

Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Immigration and housing policy in Ireland
Chapter 3: Early housing pathways
Chapter 4: Work and paying for housing
Chapter 5: House and home
Chapter 6: Migrants' neighbourhood experiences
Chapter 7: Conclusions
Index