Housing is considered an important social determinant of health. In the context of refugee

migration, living in one’s own apartment is a key indicator of successful integration. The type

of housing in which refugees are accommodated, however, varies widely. Empirically,

measuring health-related attributes of accommodation is challenging. The (international)

refugee camp context has been focused on from various fields of research, often drawing on

particular theoretical concepts. In this article, these theoretical concepts – mainly based on the

work of Hannah Arendt, Erving Goffman, Michel Foucault and Giorgio Agamben – form the

basis for developing a broad analytical framework of refugee accommodation. Housing in the

context of refugee accommodation must be understood from four dimensions, including the

broader political context, the immediate surroundings of the accommodation and its’ physical

and social boundaries, and the structures and processes inside the accommodation that may

establish means of social control. As the conditions on each of these three dimensions can

affect individuals differently, a fourth, individual dimension complements this analytical

framework by a subjective evaluation of the overall living situation. The framework provides a

multidimensional approach to assess the context of refugee accommodation which then can

be used to systematically analyse health associations. The relevance the dimensions and

contextual factors of this framework have on health is supported by empirical evidence as well

as conceptual approaches.