“Safe” shelter during a global pandemic

Over the last 13+ months communities around the world have been asked to endure a range of difficult measures to stem the spread of the Covid-19, including limiting physical interactions. While healthcare resources and personnel have been front and centre in caring for the sick, the concept of a safe personal space, or personal shelter, has been elemental to preventing further spread of the disease in the first place. Canadian communities, along with countless communities across the globe, have been in and out of different forms of “stay-at home” directives since the virus first started to circulate. This has highlighted, and in some cases exacerbated, many of the cracks in the world’s diverse social systems.

Access to a refuge with basic physical comforts (such as personal space and security, adequate heating, safe water and sanitation, or power), even if it must temporarily lack the physical presence of wider friend and family networks, is a basic requirement for stay-at-home orders, curfews, and mandatory quarantining. In some preliminary statistical analyses, CitiIQ found several positive associations between measures of access to basic sanitation and cumulative case numbers per capita. Unfortunately, we’ve also seen how difficult it is for cities to prepare when these basic physical needs are threatened by natural disasters, like the recent ice storms in Texas, and how quarantine issues can quickly become second priority. It’s challenging to maintain physical distance from others in the midst of the sudden and unanticipated loss of ability to meet our basic physiological needs.

Lack of safe shelter affects lives in many other subtle ways as well. Other services that may not immediately seem important for basic survival, like access to the internet or communications infrastructure, are incredibly important for communicating with emergency health services or first responders. Those living under the poverty line face may not be able to access these services. This lack of access hurts in other ways as well. According to research by New York’s City Bar Justice Center, it is much more difficult for the homeless to find safe shelter or a home without consistent access to these supporting services. This can become a vicious cycle for those in poverty if cities fail to meet these needs.

Many citizens lost their sources of income during the pandemic due to the effect of physical distancing measures on the leisure and hospitality industries, among others. People at risk of losing the housing they already had were, in many cases, pushed into homelessness. The precarious nature of people on these margins requires cities to have strong housing contingency plans and effective housing affordability strategies.

Some citizens may have access to appropriate shelter but face safety issues in their own homes. Media accounts suggest that there is an increased risk of domestic violence for both adults and children who have lost the ability to study in class, or work outside the home.  Instructions to stay at home have meant that people living in violent households, or at risk of violence in the home, have been stuck at home with their aggressors. According to the New England Journal of Medicine, “In some regions [in the United States], the number of calls [to domestic violence hotlines] dropped by more than 50%. Experts in the field knew that rates of Intimate Partner Violence had not decreased, but rather that victims were unable to safely connect with services.” Safe, adequate shelter is not a simple provision to supply.

In addition to social distancing and domestic safety issues, the Shelter and Housing consideration evaluates the ability of a city to provide adequate shelter and accommodation that is both available and affordable. This consideration also speaks to the challenges facing cities in this context.

Cities that want to ensure adequate shelter and protection for their citizens face diverse challenges and increasing pressures on infrastructure and civic services. As density, cost of living and a wide range of global and local pressures increase for many cities around the world, municipal leadership will face growing demands for the right mix of policy and action so that the plight of those who lack housing and security in their communities can be adequately addressed.