Seite - 357 - in VULNERABLE - The Law, Policy and Ethics of COVID-19

357The Front Line Defence: Housing and Human Rights in the Time of COVID-19 in inadequate housing. It is impossible to physically distance while sleeping on a mat in a homeless shelter. It is difficult to properly wash your hands if you live under a water boil advisory on a First Nations reserve. How can you “stay home” if you haven’t got one or if you have aged out of your foster-care home? For these populations, absent state intervention and support, the mantra of “stay home” serves as a mockery more than a life-saving measure. COVID-19 has laid bare the failure of Canadian governments to effectively implement the right to housing. In this chapter, we argue the pandemic presents Canada with the opportunity to revisit our housing system to ensure housing for all, establish housing as a human right, and reposition housing as a social good rather than an asset or commodity. We explore how housing status has been determinative of outcomes for three vulnerable populations during the pandemic—people experiencing homelessness, survivors of inti- mate partner violence (IPV), and low-income renters. The experiences of these populations demonstrate the urgent need for a rights-based approach to housing in Canada. An Uneven Burden: Housing Status as Determinative of Outcomes During COVID-19 Scholars, activists, and community leaders around the world have emphasized that COVID-19 has illuminated and exacerbated pre- existing inequities. This is vividly true with respect to housing, with emerging evidence that those residing in poor neighbourhoods, over- crowded or inadequate housing, or experiencing homelessness, are more likely to contract COVID-19 and experience worse health out- comes, including death.2 While many media campaigns have centred on the message that “we’re all in this together,” it is clear that the burden of COVID-19 is not shared evenly. Thus the importance of the human right to adequate housing becomes starkly visible. This right is codified in Article 11.1 of the International  Covenant  on  Economic,  Social,  and  Cultural  Rights, defined as “the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living for himself 2. See e.g. Dennis Culhane, et al, “Estimated Emergency and Observational/ Quarantine Capacity Need for the U.S. Homeless Population Related to COVID- 19 Exposure by County; Projected Hospitalizations, Intensive Care Units, and Mortality” (27 March 2020), online (pdf): <endhomelessness.org/wp-content/ uploads/2020/03/COVID-paper_clean-636pm.pdf>.