Housing Careers of Minority Ethnic Groups: Experiences,Explanations and Prospects

The housing careers of minority ethnic groups is an under-researched topic. Filling this knowledge gap is important for several reasons. Increased knowledge within this field may help explain the disadvantaged position of minority ethnic groups in housing markets in cities on different continents. Policy strategies can be formulated when it is known whether minority ethnic groups have specific preferences or suffer from specific barriers in the housing market. In this introduction to this special issue on the housing careers of minority ethnic groups, attention is paid to the concept of housing career and the definition of minority ethnic groups in different countries. The focus of the main part of the paper is the identification of factors affecting the course of housing careers in general and those of minority ethnic groups in particular.