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In This Update:
In Turkey, Urban Refugees Will Be Hit Hardest By COVID-19
In Some American Cities, Gun Violence Has Increased Since Lockdown
Forced Evictions in Nairobi Leave 5,000 Homeless
Newly Appointed U.N. Special Rapporteur to Right to Housing Pens Op-Ed
Saudi Arabia Smart City "Neom" Stokes Controversy over Evictions, Harassment
Sidewalk Labs Says It Will No Longer Build Toronto Smart City
IHC Global Participates in CIPE Webinar Relaunching Scorecard Website
In The News and Around the Web
This Week in Photos
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In Turkey, Urban Refugees Will Be Hardest Hit by COVID-19
In Turkey, COVID-19 will hit urban refugees
the hardest, write Zeynep Balcioglu and Murat Erdogan at openDemocracy. Of the 4
million refugees that Turkey hosts, 93% reside outside of camps, mostly in urban areas. According to Balcioglu and Erdogan, 1.5 million of Turkey's urban refugees work in the informal sector, which renders them more vulnerable to COVID-19 associated job and income loss and disqualifies them from state unemployment benefits. They also tend to live
in sub-standard housing with poor ventilation and little to no sunlight. These conditions diminish health and increase susceptibility to contracting the virus. Furthermore, the authors point out that the logistics of administering
aid packages to dispersed urban refugees is more complicated than doing so in camps.
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In Some American Cities, Gun Violence Has Increased Since Lockdowns
In some major American cities, gun violence increased following shelter-at-home orders. Over the past six weeks, most forms of crimes decreased, but fatal
shootings
increased by over 6% from the same period during the last three years. Incidents of gun violence doubled in Milwaukee, and while Nashville saw a 21% decrease in other forms of violent crime during the first two weeks of March, gun violence increased by 37%.
The Trace identifies one reason for the spike as the inability for community outreach and gun violence prevention to continue effectively, especially conflict resolution mechanisms and mediation.
The Trace explains that although technology enables some outreach to continue virtually, "the most delicate part of their work isn't meant to be conducted virtually."
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Forced Evictions in Nairobi Leave 5,000 Homeless
Forced evictions and slum demolitions in Nairobi last weekend left at least 5,000 residents homeless. The current pandemic has increased the impact of the evictions, as the former residents are no longer able to shelter-at-home, a tactic widely seen as a critical way to prevent transmission. Kenya has recorded 530 cases and 20 deaths so far. The country's strict lockdown on movement further exacerbates the precarious situation of the evicted as it prevents them from traveling to rural areas to stay with family. One grassroots organizer explains: "We are in a serious crisis because of the COVID-19 pandemic...The government is talking about 'flattening the curve' and 'slowing the spread' of the virus, but at the same time it is compromising the lives of 5,000 people."
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Newly-Appointed UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Housing Pens Op-Ed
National responses to the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrate how the world can advance housing as a human right if there is a political will for it, writes Balakrishnan Rajagopal, the newly appointed UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Housing in The Washington Post. Rajogopal says that in response to COVID-19, the world's wealthiest countries are now instituting emergency housing measures that would have been "unthinkable in pre-pandemic days." Measures
to protect renters, mortgagees, and unsheltered populations include
moratoriums on evictions, rent camps, relief for mortgage defaulters, and assistance to the homeless population. He urges countries to take this opportunity to develop national legislation out of these emergency measures to continue to address the housing crisis.
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Saudi Arabia Smart City "Neom" Stokes Controversy over Evictions, Harassment
Saudi Arabia's planned smart city Neom has stoked controversy over claims the country is forcefully evicting 20,000 members of the Huwaitat tribe that currently lives there. Neom, a project of Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, is slated to have an artificial moon, glow-in-the-dark beaches, flying drone-powered taxis, and a Jurassic park-style attraction with animatronic lizards. But, the Huwaitat tribe does not want to leave and many say that they have now been evicted or threatened with arrest for staying. U.N. Special Rapporteur for Cultural Rights Karima Bennoune says: "Historic buildings have been irremediably burned down and damaged...by the military, forcing residents out of their homes...fleeing for their lives." One activist asserts Neom "is definitely not for the original people already living there! It's for tourists, people with money."
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Sidewalk Labs Says It Will No Longer Build Toronto Smart City
Sidewalk Labs has announced it will abandon its plans to build Quayside, Toronto's smart city. In a blogpost, Sidewalk Labs CEO Dan Doctoroff says the COVID-19 pandemic has made it no longer financially viable to continue without sacrificing core parts of the plan. But, critics wonder whether opposition to the project, rather than the pandemic, is responsible for the decision to discontinue the much-discussed project. Quayside has received both praise for its innovative urban design and commitment to sustainability, as well as fierce criticism from community members who felt excluded and disenfranchised from the planning process and activists concerned with the amount of data Sidewalk Labs would collect and store as it operated Quayside
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IHC Global Participates in CIPE Webinar Relaunching Scorecard Website
IHC Global
participated in a successful Center for International Private Enterprise webinar yesterday on "Property Rights and Markets: Key Building Blocks of an Equitable Post-COVID Recovery." IHC Global President and CEO Judith Hermanson joined Bill Endsley, Principal, World Citizen Consulting, Vicky Sampah, Founder of Ghana Real Estate Professionals Association, for a discussion moderated by Anna Kompanek, CIPE Director of Global Programs at CIPE about the recently relaunched International Property Markets Scorecard website. Panelists discussed why the Scorecard tool remains a critical and relevant tool for countries and stakeholders in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic
. This valuable tool developed by IHC Global, CIPE, and World Citizen is based on the premise that functioning property markets are foundational to a modern economy. The tool provides a systematic and nuanced framework for stakeholders to employ as they assess the the state of the property markets of a given place or country.
Find the recorded webinar
here
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In The News and Around the Web
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Habitat for Humanity International Petitions European Union:
HFHI and its Europe partners are petitioning the EU to prioritize housing in its next budget.
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Did India Loosen Restrictions Too Soon?:
India loosened its lockdown restrictions and COVID-19 deaths have increased sharply.
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USAID Humanitarian Leader Announces Departure
: Tim Zeimer, who leads the USAID Bureau for Democracy, Conflict, and Humanitarian Assistance will step down.
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This Week in Photos
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COVID-19 and Poverty in Cairo:
A photo essay in The Guardian captures the COVID-19 crisis facing Egypt's urban poor.
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An outdoor market in Cairo on May 4th, frequented by informal workers and working-class families.
(Photo Credit:
Hamada Elrasam/ The Guardian)
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The ongoing COVID 19 crisis underscores the vital importance of livable cities and decent living conditions globally. The mobility of diseases within and between urban centers adn across borders is sadly demonstrated by the current pandemic. Now more than ever, we need your financial support and your voice to bring about change. Decent living conditions for one billion people worldwide is a fundamental building block of future resilience and pandemic preparedness.
Please make a contribution, whether small or large, to make a difference for all.
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