Introduction

In Australia, low-income migrants from non-English-speaking backgrounds, also referred to as ‘culturally and linguistically diverseʼ (CaLD) migrants, are one of the groups suffering from the housing crisis. They have trouble navigating the housing market and achieving a sustainable housing outcome (Wood et al, 2015). This study focuses on the resettlement experience of a specific CaLD migrant group: Sudanese-and South Sudanese-born migrants settled within the Perth, Western Australia (WA), metropolitan area.1 Between 2001 and 2011, almost 27,000 Sudanese permanently resettled in Australia (DSS, 2017) to escape the countryʼs ongoing civil war. According to the 2011 census data, WA recorded the highest density of Sudanese people, 1.43 per 1,000 (Robinson, 2013). Between 2001 and 2006, Perth welcomed 11 per cent of the Sudanese entrants, the third most after Melbourne (33 per cent) and Sydney (21 per cent) (DIAC, 2007). Furthermore, in 2006, Perth was home to almost 99 per cent of the Sudanese population in WA. The 2016 census data show that nearly the entire native Sudanese population in WA was still settled in Perth (at 98 per cent). The research presented in this chapter focuses on the resettlement experience of this population.

The literature presents the resettlement experience as a road paved with many difficulties (Lejukole, 2008; 2013; Atem, 2011; Abur, 2012; Robinson, 2013). According to Neumann et al (2014: 12), Australian literature studying refugees ‘has tended to be about refugeesʼ problematic baggage such as their traumatic experiences or lack of skillsʼ.