Covid-19 and the lockdown have bought the meaning of home into sharper focus and has exposed inequality and inequity with great clarity.
The meaning of home has shifted for all of us. Where concepts of home have been associated with security, autonomy, a basis for development and growth, this is not the case for all. For many, the home is not an easy, comfortable or safe place to be, it may not meet changing needs across the life-course and it can be expensive, insecure and detrimental to both health and safety.
The changes for some have been about the home becoming the workplace, an intrusion of our employment into our domestic lives. It has been about having more time to do things at home, the necessary and the creative. If has been a time many of us had had more time for the garden and for cooking.
Even before pandemic the multiple links between housing and health were well documented. Covid-19 has exacerbated this and for many the home is an environment that presents higher risk of Covid-19, due to housing affordability, as well as a polluted external environment and poor housing conditions including overcrowded accommodation.
Everyone needs decent, secure and affordable housing. Home is the foundation for everything else.
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I will share more on the subject of home in due course.
