Focus on housing
Housing is a fundamental prerequisite for security, stability and social participation - and is enshrined as a human right under international law. At the same time, research shows that access, quality and security of housing are unevenly distributed in Germany. In German-speaking countries, studies to date have mainly investigated differences along the category of migration background and show that people with a migration background are more frequently disadvantaged when it comes to access to housing - for example due to fewer opportunities for feedback, viewing invitations or fair rental conditions. But inequalities do not end at the front door. They continue in smaller or more stressful living conditions and manifest themselves in neighborhoods with poorer infrastructure or greater environmental pollution. These conditions create housing situations that limit social participation and can perpetuate existing inequalities. International research shows that these patterns are closely linked to racist structures. This is precisely where the NaDiRa report comes in: it not only looks at migration-related categories, but also explicitly focuses on racial prejudice.
Guiding research questions
- What impact do racism-related differences in housing situations have on subjective satisfaction with housing and mental health?
- To what extent are racial inequalities reflected in housing conditions, for example in housing size, state of maintenance, forms of contract or financial burden?
- Who is systematically disadvantaged when entering the housing market?
- How do living conditions, infrastructures and environmental conditions in neighborhoods differ along racial lines?
As part of the Racism Monitor, we record and analyze how racially marked people experience their access to housing and what obstacles they encounter in the search process. Using survey data from the NaDiRa.panel and a Germany-wide field experiment via ImmoScout24, we investigate both direct discrimination in housing inquiries and more subtle mechanisms of exclusion. The results show: Racially marked groups report discrimination significantly more often - and the experiment confirms this disadvantage under real-life conditions.
In addition, we look at how racism-related inequalities shape the actual housing situation - from rent burden and housing size to structural defects and contract forms. The data shows that racialized groups are more likely to live in cramped, stressful and insecure housing conditions and are at higher risk of housing poverty.
Finally, in combination with official contextual data, we examine how racism structures neighborhoods. This reveals differences in experiences of discrimination, perceptions of safety, infrastructural facilities and environmental pressures along racial markers.
Overall, our research aims to empirically record the consequences of racism on access to housing and on actual housing conditions. From these findings, we derive recommendations for action for policy-makers, practitioners and institutions to counteract racist exclusion in the area of housing in Germany.
The Racism Monitor shows that racial inequalities have a fundamental impact on housing. Discrimination not only affects application processes and allocation practices on the housing market, but also shapes the quality of housing and life as well as experiences in neighborhoods.
"The NaDiRa shows: Housing in Germany is not the same for everyone. Racially marked groups have poorer chances of finding housing, are more likely to live in more expensive, cramped or polluted conditions and are exposed to greater environmental and infrastructure inequalities. These patterns go beyond social situation. Such findings are key to making structural mechanisms visible and effectively aligning policy."
Selected literature
Becker, Gary Stanley (1971): The Economics of Discrimination, 2nd ed., Chicago/London: The University of Chicago Press.
European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) (2023): Being Black in the EU - Experiences of people of African descent. EU Survey on immigrants and descendants of immigrants. European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights. Available online at: https://fra.europa.eu.
Flage, Alexandre (2018): Ethnic and gender discrimination in the rental housing market: Evidence from a meta-analysis of correspondence tests, 2006-2017. Journal of Housing Economics 41, pp. 251-273. DOI: 10.1016/j.jhe.2018.07.003.
Hanhörster, Heike; Droste, Christiane; Ramos Lobato, Isabel; Diesenreiter, Carina and Liebig, Simon (2020): Housing supply and socio-spatial integration of migrants Occupancy policies of institutional housing providers. In: vhw - publication series. Berlin.
Holm, Andrej (2018): Housing makes you poor. WSI-Mitteilungen 71 (5), pp. 427-436. DOI: 10.5771/0342-300X-2018-5-427.
Holm, Andrej (ed.) (2021): Housing between market, state and society: a social science handbook. Hamburg: VSA: publishing house.
Lefebvre, Henri (1974): The production of space. Blackwell.
Phelps, Edmund S. (1972): The Statistical Theory of Racism and Sexism. The American Economic Review 62 (4).
Rüttenauer, Tobias (2019): Bringing urban space back in: A multilevel analysis of environmental inequality in Germany. Urban Studies 56 (12), pp. 2549-2567. DOI: 10.1177/0042098018795786.
StadtumMig project team (2023): From urban redevelopment focus to immigrant neighborhood. DOI: 10.18452/25294.
Auspurg, Katrin; Schneck, Andreas and Hinz, Thomas (2019): Closed doors everywhere? A meta-analysis of field experiments on ethnic discrimination in rental housing markets. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 45 (1), pp. 95-114. DOI: 10.1080/1369183x.2018.1489223.