Housing Challenges for Bhutanese Refugees

Housing has been one of the most persistent and consequential challenges faced by Bhutanese refugees resettled in the United States, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. From the earliest days of the resettlement program, finding adequate and affordable housing for Bhutanese families proved difficult. The Bhutanese community arrived with several characteristics that made housing particularly challenging: large family sizes (often five to eight or more members per household), limited financial resources, no credit history or rental references in the new country, and cultural expectations around multigenerational living that did not align with the available housing stock in Western cities.^[1]

The housing challenges faced by Bhutanese refugees were not unique to this community — refugees globally confront similar barriers upon resettlement — but the scale of Bhutanese arrivals (over 113,000 across all receiving countries) and the community's demographic profile amplified these difficulties. Housing affordability, overcrowding, substandard conditions, landlord discrimination, and the difficulty of transitioning from rental housing to homeownership have been consistent themes across the diaspora. At the same time, the community has demonstrated remarkable resilience, with growing numbers of families achieving homeownership and housing stability over time.^[2]

Housing pressures have also been a primary driver of secondary migration — the movement of refugees from their initial placement city to another location — which has reshaped the geographic distribution of the Bhutanese community in every resettlement country.

The Initial Placement Challenge

Resettlement agencies in the United States were required to secure housing for refugee families before their arrival, using the limited Reception and Placement (R&P) grant provided by the State Department. The per-capita grant — approximately $1,175 per person during the peak resettlement years — had to cover not only housing deposits and first month's rent but also furniture, basic household supplies, and other initial costs. In many cities, particularly those with tight rental markets, this amount was grossly insufficient. Agencies often relied on donated furniture and volunteer labour to furnish apartments, and in some cases, used their own fundraised resources to supplement the federal grant.^[3]

The mismatch between family size and available housing was acute. Bhutanese families frequently included elderly grandparents, multiple children, and sometimes extended family members — households of six, seven, or eight people were common. The affordable rental housing available to resettlement agencies was typically two- or three-bedroom apartments, which meant that families were often placed in units that were immediately overcrowded by local housing code standards. Larger units were scarce and expensive, and landlords were sometimes reluctant to rent to large families, particularly those with no prior rental history.

Affordability and the Rental Market

Bhutanese refugees entered the rental housing market at a time of rising rents and declining affordable housing supply in many American, Australian, and Canadian cities. Families that arrived with no savings, no credit history, and limited English faced significant barriers in competing for rental housing. Many landlords required credit checks, employment verification, and references that newly arrived refugees simply could not provide. Some resettlement agencies developed relationships with landlords willing to rent to refugees, but these arrangements were often concentrated in specific neighbourhoods, leading to geographic clustering of Bhutanese families in particular apartment complexes or blocks.^[1]

The affordability crisis intensified over time. In cities like New York, San Francisco, Sydney, Toronto, and Auckland, rising rents consumed an increasing proportion of refugee household income, even as employment rates improved. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) defines housing as "affordable" when it costs no more than 30 percent of household income; many Bhutanese refugee families in expensive cities were paying 50 percent or more of their income on rent. This housing cost burden limited the resources available for food, transportation, healthcare, education, and savings.

Overcrowding and Substandard Conditions

Overcrowding has been a persistent issue. Cultural norms within the Bhutanese community favoured multigenerational living, with grandparents, parents, and children sharing a single household. While this arrangement provided important social support and cost-sharing, it also meant that families were often living in conditions that were crowded by Western standards. In some cases, overcrowding created tensions with landlords and neighbours, and in extreme cases led to housing code violations. Health impacts associated with overcrowding — including increased risk of communicable disease transmission and stress-related conditions — were documented by public health researchers working with the Bhutanese community.^[4]

Some Bhutanese families were placed in housing that was substandard — units with poor insulation, broken appliances, pest infestations, or inadequate heating. Newly arrived refugees, unfamiliar with their rights as tenants and wary of confronting landlords, were often reluctant to report problems or advocate for repairs. Resettlement agencies and community organizations worked to educate refugees about tenant rights, but the power imbalance between vulnerable tenants and landlords was a recurring concern.

Secondary Migration Driven by Housing

Housing costs and conditions were among the primary factors driving secondary migration among Bhutanese refugees. Families initially placed in expensive cities — such as New York, Boston, or San Francisco in the United States, or Sydney and Melbourne in Australia — frequently relocated to more affordable areas within months or years of arrival. In the United States, this secondary migration contributed to the growth of large Bhutanese communities in cities like Columbus (Ohio), Harrisburg (Pennsylvania), and several cities in the American South and Midwest where housing was more affordable. The pattern of secondary migration was self-reinforcing: as a critical mass of Bhutanese families settled in affordable cities, they created a community infrastructure — ethnic grocery stores, temples, community organizations — that attracted additional families.^[5]

Secondary migration created challenges for resettlement planning. Agencies that had invested in placing families and connecting them with local services lost those families to other cities, while receiving cities experienced unplanned population growth without corresponding increases in resettlement funding. Some agencies and communities adapted by developing informal networks to support secondary migrants, but the phenomenon highlighted structural gaps in the U.S. resettlement system's ability to account for post-placement mobility.

Public Housing and Assistance Programs

Bhutanese refugees were eligible for various public housing assistance programs in their resettlement countries. In the United States, some families were placed on waiting lists for Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers or public housing through local housing authorities, but wait times of several years were common. In Australia, public housing waiting lists in major cities were similarly long. In Canada, subsidized housing through provincial programs was available but limited. In New Zealand, Housing New Zealand (now Kainga Ora) provided some refugee families with state housing, but demand far exceeded supply.^[6]

Those families that did obtain public housing assistance reported significant improvements in housing stability and financial wellbeing, as the reduced housing cost burden freed resources for other needs. However, the scarcity of these programs relative to the demand meant that most Bhutanese refugee families navigated the private rental market without direct housing subsidies.

Homeownership Achievements

Despite the challenges, a growing number of Bhutanese refugee families have achieved homeownership in their resettlement countries. In the United States, particularly in cities with affordable housing markets like Columbus, Houston, and cities in the Southeast, Bhutanese families began purchasing homes within five to ten years of arrival. Homeownership rates have been facilitated by stable dual-income households (with both spouses working), frugal financial management, community-based savings practices, and access to programs like FHA loans with low down payment requirements. Community organizations and resettlement agencies have offered homebuyer education workshops, financial literacy training, and connections to mortgage counsellors familiar with refugee clients.^[1]

Homeownership has been a source of pride and stability for the community, representing a tangible achievement in the resettlement journey. For families that had been expelled from their homes in Bhutan and spent years in refugee camps in Nepal, owning a home in a new country carried profound emotional as well as practical significance. The trend toward homeownership has accelerated in recent years as the community has become more economically established and as the second generation has entered the workforce.

References

Office of Refugee Resettlement. "Annual Survey of Refugees." https://www.acf.hhs.gov/orr/policy-guidance/annual-survey-refugees
UNHCR. "Resettlement of Bhutanese Refugees Surpasses 100,000 Mark." November 2015. https://www.unhcr.org/en-us/news/stories/2015/11/564dded46/
U.S. Department of State. "Reception and Placement Program." https://www.state.gov/refugee-admissions/reception-and-placement/
Ao, T., et al. "Suicidal Ideation and Mental Health of Bhutanese Refugees in the United States." Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health, 2015. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10903-014-0120-x
Refugee Processing Center (WRAPS). Admissions and Arrivals Data. https://www.wrapsnet.org/
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. "Housing Choice Voucher Program." https://www.hud.gov/program_offices/public_indian_housing/programs/hcv

Contributed by Anonymous Contributor, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania