Report by Balakrishnan Rajagopal, the Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing. United Nations General Assembly.
July 27, 2020.
Housing is the front line in the fight against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, as demonstrated by stay-at-home and lockdown orders. However, the pre-existing housing crisis and the economic downturn that followed the outbreak of the pandemic threaten to turn a public health emergency into a housing emergency of global dimensions. There are three issues of serious concern:
- The impact of COVID-19 on the right to housing reflects pre-existing social, legal, and political cleavages along racial, gender and other lines, with marginalised groups disproportionately experiencing largely preventable suffering and mortality;
- A spike in evictions, hunger, homelessness and mortality is expected with the expiry of eviction bans and other temporary measures to protect tenants;
- In several countries forced evictions have continued, if not accelerated, during the pandemic, exposing vulnerable groups and the communities at large to higher risks of contracting the virus.