This article contributes to scholarship on participatory mixed methods research while and presents empirical evidence relating to the needs of Roma. The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (2005) acknowledged the specific nature of racism towards Roma as being persistent both historically and geographically; permanent and not decreasing; as systematic, accepted by virtually all the community; and often accompanied by acts of violence [2012, National Roma Integration Strategies: a first step in the implementation of the EU Framework. COM (2012) 226, 21 May 2012, http://ec. europa.eu/justice/discrimination/roma/eu-framework/index_en.htm]. This has repercussions for establishing trust in the research relationship. Thus, such research presents a methodological challenge which on this occasion could not have been completed without the active involvement of community researchers at every stage of the research process. Its aim was to assess the needs of Roma in a particular time and place. Scholarship on needs influenced the methodology and a participatory sequential explanatory mixed methods study was designed and completed. Nancy Fraser distinguishes between ‘thin needs’, which refer to universal needs, and ‘thick needs’, which are more specific [1989, Unruly Practices, Cambridge: Polity Press, p. 163]. This framework is utilized to explore the accommodation needs of Roma in Ireland.