Refugee Family Voices: Shelter Needs in Iraqi Kurdistan Hariwan Zebari*, Paul-Philippe Pare* and Marga Jann* , ** ABSTRACT The shelter needs of refugees in Iraqi Kurdistan were documented by local government and humanitarian organizations. However, official narratives do not include the “voices” of those directly affected by inadequate shelter: the refugee families themselves. This study uses a mixed-methods approach to understand the shelter issues experienced by 53 refugee families in Iraqi Kurdistan. Refugee families disclosed seven common shelter problems: water infiltra- tion, lack of public services and schools, inadequate access to water, poor roads, extreme tem- peratures, need for larger living space and erratic electricity. These families faced an average of three shelter issues, with some dealing with up to five problems at the same time. Families with the highest concentration of shelter issues had higher occurrences of water infiltration, inadequate access to water, extreme temperatures and need for larger living space. The evi- dence suggests that refugee families are living in worse conditions than those outlined in offi- cial narratives. INTRODUCTION The Kurdistan region of Iraq has faced many challenges since 2014, including a war with the crim- inal organization known as the Islamic State (ISIS, ISIL) and a backlash from the Baghdad Govern- ment and others over the 2017 independence referendum. Additionally, lower oil prices and high unemployment, especially among young adults, have negatively affected the region’s economy (Benaim, 2018). Despite these challenges, Iraqi Kurdistan remains an epicentre of stability and safety for many refugees and IDPs in the Middle East, including Syrian refugees who have fled the civil war (Morabia and Benjamin, 2015; Turner, 2016), Yazidis, Christians and other religious minorities displaced by ISIS invasions (Shea, 2016; Hillebrecht et al., 2018) along with many Iraqis from the southern part of the country (Rossi et al., 2018). According to Benaim (2018), there were approximately 1.5 million refugees and IDPs in Iraqi Kurdistan in 2018. Providing adequate support to large refugee populations requires the coordination of many agen- cies and services (UNHCR, 2005; Lori and Boyle, 2015). Policies and infrastructures must typically provide refugees with shelter, health services, food and clean water, sanitation services, electricity and energy, protection and security, and access to information (UNHCR, 2017). In many cases, refugees are also provided with some freedom of movement and opportunities for schooling and work. *American University of Kurdistan, Duhok, ** University of Cambridge, Cambridge, doi: 10.1111/imig.12750 © 2020 The Authors International Migration © 2020 IOM International Migration ISSN 0020-7985 Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.