Surrey, once one of the most affordable Lower Mainland cities, now has a scarcity of accessible rental housing, limiting options for low-income tenants, including refugees. Despite this, it hosts a disproportionate number of refugees compared to other Metro Vancouver municipalities. Newly arrived Government-Assisted Refugees (GAR) and refugee claimants face language barriers, unfamiliarity with housing tools, discrimination, and limited rights knowledge, making them vulnerable to exploitation and homelessness.

Through this project, we gathered the stories of four refugee communities: Spanish-speaking refugee claimants from Latin America, Dari-speaking Government-Assisted Refugees (GARs) from Afghanistan, Swahili-speaking GARs from the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Arabic-speaking GARs from Syria and Lebanon. Over the course of one year, City in Colour Cooperative, in partnership with DIVERSEcity Community Society, engaged with these four groups to document their housing experiences and their diverse journeys from their arrival to Canada to their current homes.

The main goal of this project is to understand and map out the systemic barriers that hinder refugees and refugee claimants from securing adequate, affordable, and long-term housing in Surrey, while raising awareness about their housing situation