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In This Update:
What Does Inequitable Housing in the United States Mean for Coronavirus?
Cities Grapple With Coronavirus Amidst Global Housing Crisis
Medecins Sans Frontiere to Work with Homeless Populations in Paris
Surveillance Technology Helps South Korea Combat Coronavirus - But at a Price
Residents of Nairobi's Informal Settlements Prepare for Coronavirus
World Water Day
News from the World Bank Land and Poverty Conference
In the News and Around the Web
This Week in Photos
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What Does Inequitable Housing in the United States Mean for Coronavirus?
At Brookings Institution, Jenny Schuetz says America's inequitable housing crisis has devastating consequences for the COVID-19 pandemic. Stocking up on two weeks of supplies, avoiding crowds, and sheltering in place is good advice for "middle-class suburbanites with white-collar jobs," but is near impossible for people with unstable, crowded, or poor-quality housing. Homeless persons and populations that are unable to find affordable housing, in group quarters, overcrowded housing, or in unsafe and unhealthy housing are the most vulnerable. She urges the government to prioritize short-term financial assistance to renter households, rather than a temporary moratorium on evictions, as landlords also need money to pay mortgages, property taxes, and utilities.
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Cities Grapple With Coronavirus Amidst Global Housing Crisis
Around the world, countries are grappling with how to mitigate the consequences of a global housing crisis on the coronavirus outbreak. In the United States, cities like New York, Seattle, and San Francisco have banned evictions, while a few others have frozen rent or utility payments. Canada announced it will pay up to C$900 every two weeks to workers who must stay home to self-isolate or care for children but do not qualify for unemployment benefits. In London, mortgages providers agreed to a three-month delay in repayment by borrowers affected by coronavirus.
Homelessness also makes it more difficult for infected persons to self-isolate to prevent spreading the virus. The French housing ministry said it would open two isolation centers in Paris to house and protect more than 3,600 homeless persons who are infected, but do not require hospitalization.
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Médecins Sans Frontières to Work With Homeless Populations in Paris
Médecins Sans Frontières, an organization that typically operates in conflict zones and those affected by endemic diseases, will now assist health authorities in France to detect and manage cases of coronavirus among vulnerable people, including migrants, the homeless, and unaccompanied minors. MSF Deputy Operations Director explains the urgency of reaching these populations: "If nothing is done to detect and isolate cases, the disease risks spreading among them rather quickly. And even more so, as these people who live on the margins of services available to the general population can be difficult tor each." MSF plans to enact mobile consultations and screenings and support diagnosis, isolation, and case management in existing and prospective shelters.
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Surveillance Technology Helps South Korea Combat Coronavirus - But at a Price
South Korea's surveillance technology and smart city infrastructure enables it to better manage the spread of coronavirus than other parts of the world, writes Jung Won Sonn at The Conversation. Data collected from cashless transactions, phones, and the 8 million CCTV cameras installed in South Korean cities allow health authorities to find who an infected person has had close contact with and to track new patients' movements against those of earlier patients. Governments around the world now face the difficult decision of either restricting the individual right to movement or the individual right to privacy, says Sonn. The South Korean example may be successful, but it is unlikely that other liberal democratic societies will accept this level of surveillance and exposure of personal information.
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Residents of Nairobi's Informal Settlements Prepare for Coronavirus
Residents of Kenya's informal settlements are taking action to protect themselves against coronavirus. Kibera, a slum of Nairobi, is home to half a million people, but has no formal water connections. So, Shining Hope for Communities Organization (SHOFCO) is setting up handwashing stations and hosting public talks on identifying coronavirus symptoms. SHOFCO runs a network of drinking water points linked by suspended aerial pipes and a purification plant that provides drinking water to residents at a heavily subsidized price. Many believe residents will be more receptive to community-led health initiatives than government edicts. SHOFCO Chief Financial Officer explains; "We can't sit pretty in our houses knowing that tomorrow we may have a crisis beyond our control."
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Every year, World Water Day calls attention to the 780 million people around the world who live without access to clean water and the more than 2.5 billion need improved sanitation. At the height of this COVID 19 when good hand hygiene is a key element in curtailing its spread, it should be self-evident how important access to clean water not only for the people immediately affected but also for everyone else. Equitable water access, as well as other services associated with decent, adequate housing helps to keep everyone safe. In lieu of the World Water Day events that have been cancelled in the outbreak of coronavirus, read more here:
- BBC points out that handwashing to prevent coronavirus will be difficult for the one billion people who live in slums around the world.
- The World Health Organization launched the safe hands challenge to encourage handwashing and safe hygiene during coronavirus.
- The World Economic Forum explains why water must be put on the climate agenda.
- A California teenager donated 150 coronavirus sanitation kits to the homeless.
- USAID Water Team highlights how it is helping to mitigate urban water shortages around the world.
- A new World Bank Water resource shows how a circular economy can turn wastewater into a valuable resource.
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News from the World Bank Land and Poverty Conference
The 21st Annual World Bank Land and Poverty conference went online this year. IHC Global Partner and Consultant Bill Endsley presented "Using Multinational Data Sources to Establish Benchmarks and Intervention Programs for Property Market Improvements in West Africa," using the IHC Global and Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE) International Property Markets Scorecard. Endsley assessed the state of property markets in Benin, Ghana, and Nigeria and concluded the countries face three major challenges in supporting secure property rights and fully functioning property market systems : fragmented property market information, corruption in property transactions, and a gap between legal protection and its implementation.
Find the presentation here.
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In the News and Around the Web
- USAID Administrator Steps Down: USAID Administrator Mark Green announced plans to depart the Agency and return to the private sector. John Barsa is slated to be the new acting head.
- Four Indian Men Executed for 2012 Delhi Attack: Today, India executed four men convicted of a brutal rape and murder of a woman in Delhi in 2012. The attack, a watershed moment for Indian society, galvanized Indian women activists and civil society to push for tougher laws on sexual assault and safer cities for women.
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Traffic has slowed on the Champs Elysees in Paris after French president Emmanuel Macron ordered a nationwide lockdown earlier this week. (
Photo Credit: AP Photo/Michel Euler)
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The current crisis underscores the vital importance of livable cities globally. Even, now the mobility of disease within and between urban centers is IHC Global helps focus global attention on the vital interconnectedness of cities. Now more than ever, we need your support and your voice.
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