Housing Policy Actions to Address Discrimination Against Migrants in Ireland

Short abstract

This paper examines housing discrimination in private rental housing as a significant barrier for migrants in Ireland and proposes human rights-based policy recommendations to enhance the housing experiences for everyone living in Ireland.

Introduction

Access to safe, secure, and affordable housing is fundamental to individual well-being and successful integration into society. This issue holds critical relevance for public policy in Ireland. When migrants face discriminatory barriers in accessing housing, it not only violates principles of equality but also directly undermines broader societal goals of inclusion. The inability to secure stable housing can trigger a cascade of issues that goes beyond the right to non-discrimination: it limits opportunities, leads to housing precarity, andcreates significant barriers to personal development and community participation.

This research, conducted between January 2023 and March 2024 with 42 migrant tenants residing in Dublin, reveals that housing discrimination is not an isolated phenomenon but a common reality. Indeed, the vast majority of participants in the study (39 out of 42) reported experiencing discrimination during their search for a home, underscoring the systemic nature of this barrier.

The experience of discrimination reported by research participants signals a deeply embedded problem within the housing market, suggesting that existing anti-discrimination measures may be inadequate or insufficiently enforced, thus demanding urgent policy attention. Furthermore, positioning housing access as essential for integration implies a clear responsibility for the state to ensure fair access, linking housing policy directly to national objectives for social inclusion and national, and potentially international, human rights’ commitments. Policymakers and stakeholders seeking effective and just solutions to housing challenges, particularly concerning non-nationals’ right to adequate housing, will find concrete policy recommendations in this paper, which is based on the full research report available here. These recommendations aim to improve housing conditions for everyone without discrimination.

The Lived Experience: Forms of Housing Discrimination

The discrimination encountered by migrants in the Irish housing market manifests in various forms, often subtle yet profoundly impactful. Understanding these lived experiences is crucial for designing effective policy interventions.

A dominant theme emerging from the research was the prevalence of implicit biases in the housing search process. Migrants encountered unspoken preferences for Irish or European tenants, even when they possess stable employment and sufficient income. This often translates into a lack of follow-up or outright rejection without any explanation provided, particularly after the applicant discloses their migrant status – a finding consistent with research from the Canadian Centre for Housing Rights on rejections without explanation (CCHR, 2021). Participants reported instances where communication simply ceased once their immigrant background, sometimes combined with other factors like being a female lone parent, became known. This pattern of non-response to enquiries or viewing applications acts as a significant, yet often invisible, barrier to housing access, leaving applicants confused and excluded. The subtle nature of this conduct makes it exceptionally difficult for migrants to challenge, as proving discriminatory intent behind silence or vague rejections is difficult.

Discrimination also occurs through differential treatment based on identity markers such as name and accent. Research participants observed that emails from friends bearing an Irish-sounding name often received quicker responses compared to those with ethnic-sounding names. This observation is also seen in the findings of Gusciute et al. (2022), whose field experiment demonstrated that testers with Irish names received significantly more positive responses and viewing opportunities than those with non-Irish names. One interviewee recounted an estate agent’s dismissive reaction to her husband’s Eastern European accent, highlighting how deeply ingrained biases about nationality or country of origin can influence interactions. Landlords have also been reported using excuses, such as claiming a property is suddenly unavailable or only suitable for a specific gender, immediately after learning about an applicant’s minority background. Even without overt racist remarks, the tone and nature of conversations can serve to undermine migrant applicants, making them feel devalued. These experiences reflect broader issues of racism and xenophobia faced by migrants in Ireland, as documented by Michael (2016), Grotti et al. (2018), the Centre for Better Living (CBL, 2023), and a 2024 Ipsos B&A survey for the Department of Integration (see O’Carroll, 2024).

Faced with these biases, some migrants resort to mitigation strategies to improve their chances of securing housing. These include using anglicised names on applications or strategically highlighting professional qualifications to positively influence landlords’ perceptions. While demonstrating resourcefulness and agency, the need for such strategies underscores the unfairness of the situation. It highlights the psychological burden placed on migrants who feel compelled to alter or conceal aspects of their identity simply to access a fundamental need like housing, revealing an unequal playing field where identity itself can be a liability.

The Wider Impacts: Housing Discrimination and Migrant Integration

Discrimination and instability in housing are directly linked to reduced educational and employment opportunities, as noted by Flage (2018). Constant housing insecurity, threats of evictions, frequent moves, or living in overcrowded or substandard conditions makes it problematic for individuals to focus on education or job searching, and harder to maintain stable employment once secured. This demonstrates how housing acts as a ‘gateway’ right; denial of basic access triggers a number of negative outcomes across other domains essential for socio-economic participation and integration. Migrants tend to have lower incomes and experience greater poverty and deprivation. High housing costs disproportionately affect them, with 37% allocating over 30% of their income to housing, a stark contrast to the 9% of Irish-born residents (McGinnity, 2025).

Furthermore, housing difficulties can limit migrants’ access to essential welfare services (Flatau et al., 2015). Navigating support systems becomes more complex without a stable address or when dealing with the constant stress of housing precarity, potentially trapping individuals and families in cycles of disadvantage.

These factors also hinder integration and increase the risk of homelessness (Pleace, 2011; Francis, 2010; Teixeira and Halliday, 2010). In 2022, migrants comprised 12% of Ireland’s population, reflecting an increase in the presence of ethnically diverse groups in the country. However, this growth has also brought challenges in securing accommodation, with significant social and economic consequences due to inconsistent housing investments and slow construction rates (Lima et al., 2022). Without sufficient legal safeguards, migrants are susceptible to exploitation by landlords and the volatility of the housing market. Rent arrears can lead to eviction, placing migrants at a heightened risk of homelessness and potential exploitation (Human Rights Council, 2025).

Policy Pathways And Recommendations

Recognising the multifaceted nature of housing discrimination and its detrimental impacts, this study proposes a comprehensive suite of policy recommendations aimed at creating a fairer and more accessible housing market for migrants in Ireland. These recommendations target various aspects of the problem, from individual support needs to systemic market reforms and strategic policy alignment. In order to tackle this issue, a multi-level approach is required rather than isolated interventions. The recommendations can be grouped into three key areas for action:

A. Information Access and Support:

Multilingual Documentation and Support Services – There is a need to implement comprehensive translation and interpretation services to assist migrants with limited English proficiency. This includes making key documents available in multiple languages, drawing on international best practices (e.g., British Columbia, South Australia). There is a need to create dedicated helplines and support centres (e.g., via the Citizens Information Board, which currently relies heavily on tools like Google Translate to offers support in languages other than English) offering professional interpretation should be established. Standard information should be published online and in relevant locations in priority languages, in light of the plain language approach, even if it was not passed into law.  

Support and Orientation for Newcomers – There is a need to develop specialised orientation programmes and workshops for recent arrivals (including asylum seekers leaving Direct Provision and foreign students). These should cover tenants’ rights, navigating the housing market, legal protections, and housing safety standards. Increased government partnership with existing housing charities, which already offer some similar services (as noted by Norris et al., 2022), could facilitate delivery.

B. Reforming Market Practices and Oversight:

Government-led Rental Search Platform – There is a need to create a secure, official platform for rental listings to protect users, particularly newcomers, from scams. This platform should also provide clear, accessible information on tenants’ rights, obligations, and resources for navigating the rental process.

Transparent Housing Market Practices – Regulations should be introduced that mandate greater transparency in tenant selection, addressing the opaque criteria. This should include clear disclosure of selection criteria and potentially waiting lists criteria by landlords/agents. An open-access platform allowing applicants to track application status and view rental conditions could enhance fairness and accountability.

Enhanced Oversight of Health and Safety Standards – There is a need to strengthen government enforcement of minimum standards in rental properties through more frequent, targeted inspections and mandatory compliance. It is vital to establish clear, safe mechanisms for tenants to report violations and access support without fear of reprisal.

C. Strategic Integration, Data, and Capacity Building:

Engage With the Migrant Community – Migrant communities must be able to meaningfully participate in the design, implementation, and evaluation of housing policies and programmes that affect them, ensuring initiatives are culturally sensitive and meet actual needs. There is a need to devise strategies to facilitate this engagement.

Housing as a Priority Area for Migrant Integration Policy – In the next iteration of Ireland’s national Migrant Integration Strategy, there is a need to explicitly incorporate housing as a core component, acknowledging its foundational role in successful integration, and aligning with evidence from bodies like the ESRI. Housing was notably absent in the 2017-2020 Migrant Integration Strategy, which is a significant oversight.

Data-driven Decisions through Robust Ethnic Data Collection – There is a pressing need to establish a comprehensive system for collecting and analysing ethnic data related to housing, in collaboration with bodies like the Central Statistics Office (CSO), POBAL, and the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI). This data is crucial for understanding disparities, identifying discrimination patterns, informing targeted policies, and monitoring progress.

More Research on Housing Discrimination – There is a need to allocate dedicated funding (e.g., via Taighde Éireann – Research Ireland) for ongoing, comprehensive research into housing, discrimination, its impacts, and the specific needs of diverse migrant groups, involving academic institutions, charities, and think-tanks.

Training and Capacity Building – Invest in mandatory training programmes for frontline public servants, legal professionals, and real estate agents. Training should cover housing rights, anti-discrimination legislation (national and international obligations), cultural sensitivity, and ethical responsibilities. For estate agents, this could be linked to licensing requirements with periodic refreshers.

Table 1 below summarises the recommendations and the key problems that they address:

Table 1: Recommendations and the key problems that they address

Conclusion

Housing discrimination against migrants in Ireland is a significant and pervasive issue, demanding comprehensive policy action. The findings reveal that discrimination in private rental housing is a significant barrier faced by migrants. Evidence-based solutions can provide a roadmap for addressing these challenges through a series of concrete policy recommendations. These proposals encompass enhancing information access and support for migrants, reforming rental market practices to promote transparency and safety, strategically integrating housing into national integration policies, improving data collection for evidence-based decision-making, and building capacity among key stakeholders through training. Implementing these multi-level interventions represents not merely an effort to rectify injustices but a proactive protection against violations of the right to adequate housing and a commitment to a human rights-based approach to everyone that lives in Ireland. This is particularly important in the current context where refugees, asylum-seekers, and other migrants are attributed with the blame for the housing crisis, When, in reality, they are among the most vulnerable to violations of their right to adequate housing. Ireland needs a multilateral strategy to address those housing challenges, based on inclusive housing policies that protect the rights of all persons, both nationals and non-nationals, without discrimination.

Bibliography

CCHR (Canadian Centre for Housing Rights). (2021). Sorry, It’s Rented: Measuring Discrimination in Toronto’s Rental Housing Market. CCHR.

CBL, Casa do Brasil de Lisboa. (2023) Imigração e a discriminação na habitação em Portugal. Portugal: Casa do Brasil de Lisboa.

Flage, A. (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(C), pp. 251–273.

Flatau, P. et al. (2015) The housing and homelessness journeys of refugees in Australia. Melbourne, Australia: Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute Limited.

Francis, J. (2010) ‘Poor Housing Outcomes Among African Refugees In Metro Vancouver’, Canadian Issues, (Autumn), pp. 59–63.

Grotti, R. et al. (2018) Discrimination and Inequality in Housing in Ireland. Research Series. Dublin, Ireland: Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission and Economic and Social Research Institute.

Gusciute, E., Mühlau, P. and Layte, R. (2022) ‘Discrimination in the rental housing market: a field experiment in Ireland’, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 48(3), pp. 613–634.

Human Rights Councils. (2025). Towards a just approach to the global housing crisis and migrants (A/HRC/58/50).

Ipsos B&A. (2024). Survey on Migrant Experiences of Discrimination. 1.

Lima, V., Hearne, R., & Murphy, M. P. (2022). Housing financialisation and the creation of homelessness in Ireland. Housing Studies, 38(9), 1695–1718.

McGinnity, F., Carron-Kee, E., Alamir, A., Dalton, C., Darmody, M., Hingre, G., Murphy, K., & Quinn, E. (2025). Monitoring report on integration 2024 (Jointly-published Reports 11). ESRI and Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth. Ireland

Michael, L. (2016) Afrophobia in Ireland: Racism against people of African descent. Ireland: ENAR Ireland.

Norris, M. et al. (2022) Meeting the Information Needs of Migrants in Vulnerable Situations: A Citizens Information Perspective. Dublin, Ireland: Citizens Information Services (CISs)(Accessed: 1 August 2024).

O’Carroll, C. (2024) Majority of immigrants to Ireland believe that anti-migrant attitudes are ‘a significant issue. TheJournal.ie, the Morning Lead. Available at: https://www.thejournal.ie/anti-migrant-views-government-consultation-6443352-Jul2024/ Acessed on: 23.Nov.2024.

Pleace, N. (2011) ‘Immigration and Homelessness’, in E. O’Sullivan (ed.) Homelessness Research in Europe. Brussels: FEANTSA, pp. 143–163.

Teixeira, C. and Halliday, B. (2010) ‘Introduction: Immigration, Housing And Homelessness’, Canadian Issues, (Autumn), pp. 3–7.