Social Protection for non-status Migrants

National migration policies targeting non-status migrants are used as deterrents while local level policies seek to pragmatically address local issues. This can result in differing policy priorities at the local and national levels. Amidst this intractable policy problem, some local governments have found ways to provide non-status migrants with social protection such as housing and income security. This study looks at the local level policy process of providing access to social protection for non-status migrants and asks how cities create inclusive policies on housing and income security for non-status migrants. This is done through a multi country, multi city comparative case study of the Netherlands (Amsterdam and Utrecht) and Finland (Helsinki and Espoo) grounded in theories of social protection, governance structures, and the local turn. This study identified factors that influence the local level policy process and in turn lead to either inclusive or restrictive policies and either vertical policy convergence or divergence. It found that while many factors influencing local level policy are embedded in the national and local contexts and are seemingly unchangeable such as demographics, resources, governance structure, political parties and compliance mechanisms. However, local officials use some factors as tools available to them including city networks, frames, the expertise and experience of strong public servants, and the power of strategic communication in the media to create inclusive policies. This study also found that inclusive local level policies do not inherently lead to vertical policy divergence within the national framework.