It is my pleasure to respond to and reflect on Francesca Francesca Perugia's (2022) chapter about the attributes of social resilience in refugees’ settlement patterns and housing choices. First, it is refreshing to see a discussion of housing, as it is an often-forgotten aspect of the refugee settlement journey. Despite its importance, not much has been written on housing as part of the refugee settlement process. As Fozdar and Hartley (2014) demonstrate, safe, appropriate and secure housing is crucial for the integration and settlement of humanitarian entrants, as establishing a home is a vital part of the regaining of ontological security (Dupuis and Thorns, 1998). However, as they and others clarify (Fozdar and Hartley, 2014; Ziersch et al, 2017), recently arrived humanitarian entrants and asylum seekers in Australia experience barriers in securing housing and often need to go through multiple housing moves in their first few years in the country. This has been the result of years of minimal government investment in social housing across the country and an ongoing fiscal housing policy that has led to a national housing affordability crisis. It has also been a result of ongoing inadequate income support for refugees settling in Australia.

Housing is crucial for developing the feeling of belonging and a sense of home in the community (Levin, 2016). Yet, for refugees and asylum seekers who arrive in Australia without any social or cultural capital, finding secure housing is almost impossible; what used to be migrant gateway suburbs are no longer affordable for newly arrived communities (Easthope et al, 2017), and refugees and asylum seekers (as well as other ethnic and migrant groups)