Migration and spatial structure

Every year, millions of migrants (illegal immigrants, students, workers and new holders of family reunification visas) arrive in Europe, increasing the demand for housing and consequently the cost of housing for European citizens. Most analysts identify a number of factors that have led to the current crisis. However, they agree that migration is a significant factor that has made the situation worse. Ultimately, Europe’s lower and middle classes are bearing the cost of this crisis, while rental property owners are benefiting from rising demand for homes and rising rents. European governments no longer invest in housing and have no strategy for accommodating the millions of migrants arriving in waves since 2015. In this context, rising homelessness and mounting integration challenges are becoming increasingly apparent and serious in major cities across Western Europe. In this analysis, we briefly describe what research has found about the relationship between migration and the housing crisis, and then illustrate the links between migration and the housing crisis using the examples of two countries: the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

Sweden, once a “model humanitarian state”, has now become a victim of its own migration policy: one-third of the population is no longer ethnically Swedish, the country has 59 no-go zones, and, after Albania, it has the highest number of gang-related deaths in Europe. In 2023, the Swedish government was forced to radically change its policy, reducing the number of asylum seekers from 163,000 to 9,000, while offering USD 34,000 in support to those who voluntarily return home.

In 2025, the UK once again became Europe’s top migration destination, creating a crisis that compounded the Labour government’s poor performance on security and the economy. Following a discussion of the latest statistics on the rise in illegal immigration, we present the causes, the measures being taken to address them and their likely impact on both the UK and Europe.

In recent years, Denmark’s strict immigration laws and proactive integration initiatives have made it unique among Western European EU countries. One of the unique features that distinguishes Denmark is the recognition of the negative consequences of migration, such as the existence of “ghettos”, which are areas designated by the government on “ghetto lists” and inhabited by immigrants.