#StayAtHome and Europe’s housing crisis The COVID-19 pandemic exposes the shortcomings of our housing policies

Public, cooperative and social housing providers are mobilising to protect vulnerable people and the local economy in this time of crisis. Strong public support for essential services; housing, health, education, transport from governments and international bodies now more vital than ever.
#StayAtHome, #ZuHauseBleiben, #ResterChezVous, #RestateACasa, #QuédateEnCasa #MenoumeSpiti… the language is not so important, but the message is clear. Citizens around the globe are ordered, requested or recommended to stay at home- depending on the level of the measures taken by each government- contributing thus to the universal effort to flatten the curve of the COVID-19 spread. Confinement and social distancing are considered by most national authorities and by the EU Institutions as an effective way in getting this extraordinary global health crisis under control. Such a decision to implement a lockdown, keeping people at home, surely has multiple consequences but also brings to the surface, once again, Europe’s housing crisis.

Concretely, #StayAtHome is easier said than done for a very large part of the EU population: