Research from CAMHRA’s Housing Distress project published in Cultural Anthropology
New article explores housing distress and refugee subjectivity in Birmingham’s Somali diaspora
A new article, “To Be ‘a Homeless’: Refugeetude in Birmingham’s Somali Diaspora”, co-authored by Nikita Simpson, Elizabeth Storer and Suad Duale, examines how housing insecurity, displacement and distress are experienced and understood by Somali mothers living in Birmingham.
The article builds on the Housing Distress project’s exploration of how housing precarity, disrepair and dispossession impact mental health. Focusing on the lived experience of successive evictions, temporary accommodation and housing disrepair, the research highlights how these conditions are shaped by broader structures of racial injustice, immigration policy and state neglect. Through the testimonies of Somali women, the authors trace the emotional, psychological and political effects of housing instability and displacement.
By centring experiences of distress and un-homing, the article contributes to wider conversations about housing, health and inequality in the UK. It reflects the Housing Distress project’s commitment to understanding how mental health is shaped by social and political conditions, and to developing research approaches grounded in partnership with communities most affected by housing insecurity.
CAMHRA People
Dr Nikita Simpson
