The UN proclaimed World Habitat Day is observed on first Monday of October (in 2020, October 5; Theme: Housing For All — A Better Urban Future) 'to reflect on the state of our towns and cities, and on the basic right of all to adequate shelter' and 'the responsibility to shape the future of our cities and towns.'
"The urgency of improving living conditions has been brought to the fore by COVID-19, which has devastated the lives of millions in cities. Access to clean water and sanitation, along with social distancing, are key responses to the pandemic. Yet in slums it has proved difficult to implement these measures. This means an increased risk of infection, not only within slums, but in whole cities," stated UN Secretary-General in his message.
According to the UN, an estimated 1.8 billion people were already living in slums and informal settlements, inadequate housing or in homelessness in our cities worldwide before the pandemic began. Some 3 billion people lack basic hand-washing facilities. Further, according to ILO, 55 per cent of the world’s population – about 4 billion people – do not benefit from any form of social protection.
Some of the observations made by the UN owing to the COVID-19 crisis are as follows.
-Having an adequate home is now, more than ever, a matter of life and death. As COVID-19 continues to spread, people have been told to stay at home, but this simple measure is impossible for people who do not have adequate housing.
-The COVID-19 has reminded us that home is much more than just a roof. To make us feel safe and enable us to continue living, working and learning, a home needs to be secure, to allow us to access basic services and infrastructure for hygiene measures and to have enough room for physical distancing.
-Structural inequalities have been highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic, showing how people from minorities, indigenous peoples and migrants are disproportionally affected by housing precarity, overcrowding and homelessness.
-COVID-19 has spread in areas where people lack adequate housing, and are faced with inequalities and poverty. Residents in these areas are also often not recognized by the authorities or protected and face the risk of being evicted and relocated, particularly in times of crisis.
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