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Sociology of housing: Exploring the Effects of the Pandemic on Housing Across the United States
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Introduction
The present Covid-19 crisis has spread to cities all over the world. When it comes to
envisioning sustainable urban possibilities, the epidemic is somewhat of a disaster. Cities all
around the globe have seen inequitable consequences, not only inside the same country but
even within the same country. There are some similarities when examining the “urban face”
of the “Covid-19” problem. There is a direct correlation between the extent to which the
pandemic impacts a location and the health concerns it presents to its residents and visitors.
“Patterns of disease and mortality reflect urban social and economic geographies,” Simon
(2020) correctly observes. The elderly and those with pre-existing-existing medical issues
have received the greatest attention, but the reality is much more complicated. ” The fact that
poor socioeconomic level is a major risk factor in every part of the globe is obvious, and this
is nothing new (Fisher and Bubola, 2020). Regarding health issues, the plans to deal with
them (like not letting people leave their homes and shutting down a lot of social and
economic infrastructure, like supply and care infrastructures) only make the already-existing
socioeconomic and spatial disparities in our cities even worse.
Effects of crisis
Consequently, the impoverished are more vulnerable to infection and have a lower capacity
to protect themselves from the virus. A person’s chance of contracting the virus may be
increased by socioeconomic risk problems such as poverty, unemployment, and social
isolation, according to recent research. Urban dwellers are more likely to get the disease,
have more severe symptoms, or even die as a result of it if they live in poverty and isolation,
according to the research. Poor and low-income persons make up a substantially larger
percentage of Covid-19 victims and deaths in the United States than in the overall population.
The more socially divided a city is, the more individuals are affected and exposed to the
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disease (Fisher and Bubola, 2020; Friedmann and Bartsch, 2020). The social crisis is more
acute in city suburbs, where alternatives, amenities, and safety are the most unequally
distributed and accessible to various socioeconomic groups, resulting in the largest degree of
social division and division. Our towns and urban cultures face a social crisis and a justice
issue as a result of the epidemic of the coronavirus.
Housing
The city’s poorest residents also live in the city’s most impoverished neighbourhoods.
They dwell in the most densely populated areas and in the smallest possible spaces. There are
greater levels of air pollution in these places, along with poor or inaccessible utility and
service quality. Often, they have the smallest open public places.” (Simon, the year 2020)
The Covid-19 epidemic has prompted a limited but growing number of analyses and
comments, and this quote is one among them (on cities). I believe it captures the essence of
the social and justice dilemma brought on by Covid-19. Social dimensions of vulnerability
and exposure were ignored when the crisis started. It took some time for researchers to come
up with an answer Poverty, poor housing and living circumstances, densely populated areas
and neighbourhoods, and employment financial insecurity have all been recognized as
significant risk factors for the elderly and those with previous health problems.
City housing crises have been exhibited in cities with uneven resource allocations,
opportunities for advancement and safety. The availability and price of housing have a
significant impact on city dwellers’ well-being and safety, how living conditions and
availability of green spaces influence people’s risk of infection, as well as how
countermeasures against Covid-19, including lockdowns, have compounded these
inequalities. A city’s socioeconomic and socio-spatial disparities grew in proportion to its
polarized living circumstances as a result of the economic crisis and the policies that were put
in place in reaction to it.
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Small apartments without balconies, cramped quarters and insufficient resources per
person in many American cities are all factors that increase a person’s risk of contracting the
disease. People with low incomes disproportionately make up the majority of those who live
in such cramped quarters in many American cities. As Simon (2020) points out, on a
worldwide scale, overcrowding is becoming a danger. Low-income housing may also be
found in metropolitan locations with high pollution levels, such as near major traffic arteries.
Poor individuals tend to have pre-existing medical issues, which increases their risk of injury
or sickness. This was not altered by the lockdowns; rather, they just shifted the danger of
infection from public places to private residences and other enclosed settings. Those in
substandard housing face “exposure to cold, wet and other dangerous situations with effects
for both physical and mental health,” as Chair (2020) properly points out, when it comes to
the “inequalities of stay-at-home policy.”
Conclusion
As a result, communities might take a number of divergent paths after the outbreak,
depending on their circumstances. Under the current circumstances, it looks unlikely that the
socioeconomic inequalities that contributed to the inequitable distribution of exposure and
susceptibility to the virus will be addressed on a more widespread scale in the future. We
need active and sustainable social research to illustrate how long-term urban inequities may
pose a danger to urban societies in the future. A number of green urban academics are
demanding a more critical and emancipatory approach to the debate on inclusive and
sustainable urban futures.
References
Chair, A. (2020). Homes, Health, and COVID-19: How Poor Housing Adds to the Hardship
of the Coronavirus Crisis. Available online at:
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https://www.smf.co.uk/commentary_podcasts/homes-health-and-covid-19-how-poorhousing-adds-to-the-hardship-of-the-coronavirus-crisis/
Fisher, M., and Bubola, E. (2020). Available online at:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/15/world/europe/coronavirus-inequality.html (accessed
July 14, 2020).
Friedmann, J., and Bartsch, M. (2020). Available online at:
https://www.spiegel.de/panorama/gesellschaft/corona-risikofaktor-armut-dassozialvirus-a-28a9400c-971e-453d-a775-b5cdad4aeb84 (accessed July 14, 2020).
Simon, D. (2020). Available online at: https://theconversation.com/cities-are-at-centre-ofcoronavirus-pandemic-understanding-this-can-help-build-a-sustainable-equal-future136440 (accessed July 14, 2020).
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