Living in a reception centre: the search for home in an institutional setting

This paper discusses the different discourses on living in reception centres. The dominant discourse used in the policy focuses on efficiency and providing shelter rather than on providing a home. The residents, however, use home discourses to evaluate living in the centre. The fact that the centre is not able to provide them with even the most basic attributes of home leaves them very frustrated. Housing researchers have largely ignored the living done in reception centres. It is argued that the fact that home is not talked about in the dominant discourse does not mean that there is no role for housing researchers in this field.