One city's approach to housing refugees: The case of Greensboro, NC

Guilford County, North Carolina collectively resettles approximately 400 refugees from various regions of the world each year. As Guilford County continues to receive refugees from overseas, the question of where to house them is ever present. Resultantly, Greensboro has developed a systematic approach for housing recently arrived refugees. This study examines the unique housing situation that recently resettled refugees experience upon arrival to Greensboro. Refugees in Greensboro are settled collectively in various apartment complexes throughout the city. While refugees of the same ethnicity tend to be placed together in the same apartment complex few, if any, native born Americans reside in these complexes, thus limiting the exposure that these new arrivals have to non-immigrant populations. This analysis seeks to examine the benefits and detriments of this type of housing arrangement and to determine the perceived effects that it has on refugee residents. Benefits of the housing arrangement include enhanced communication amongst residents due to the grouping of language and cultural clusters, a sense of common plight among residents, and access to a community development center that offers free literacy and tutoring programs for residents resettled within the apartment complex. Negatives of these housing situations include segregation from mainstream society and risk of increased incidents of crime against residents. Further analysis of this type of housing arrangement will be discussed in detail.