No shelter is safe: Syrian refugees and housing precarity in Beirut, Lebanon

Since the Syrian conflict began in 2011, Lebanon has maintained an incomplete vision for its most recent wave of refugees, specifically through its “zero-camp” policy for displaced Syrians. However, it has provided no alternative shelter. In a country with no comprehensive affordable housing scheme, this has led displaced Syrians to seek informal ways of accessing spaces of refuge on their own and UNHCR to become the leading humanitarian organization in helping the most vulnerable refugees access shelter. The research reported in this field note, drawing on interviews, discussions, participant observation and analysis of secondary data, investigates how these displaced Syrians have accessed shelter and tenure in two upscale neighbourhoods in Beirut, navigating a delicate balance of legal, social, economic and spatial factors shared by both the displaced and local communities. The situation has been further complicated by Beirut’s historic sectarian divisions. The findings of the study provide an update on Syrian refugee self-settlement after the 2019 economic crisis in well-to-do neighbourhoods in Beirut, challenging the assumption that the shelter available to refugees in privileged areas might provide greater security in dire economic times.