2.6.2. A rights-based approach to recovery

Housing and social protection are mutually supportive components of the right to adequate standards of

living. Adequate housing is also a component of the right to

social security

The next section proposes how cities can apply this framework for a new social contract to guide policies and actions over the medium and long-term. In their intermediate responses, countries and cities will need to shore up health systems, prevent a breakdown of food systems, restore basic urban and social services and other measures to minimize the impact of the pandemic on those most exposed to vulnerabilities. In the longer term, cities will need to improve living conditions for all, particularly in over crowded and unplanned settlements such as slums and informal encampments, while strengthening social protection systems to ensure that every human is able to meet basic needs for water, food and housing as the new normal, and not only in a state of emergency.

2.6.2. A rights-based approach to recovery

“Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and wellbeing of himself and his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.”

Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) Article 25.1

The departure point for designing pandemic response and recovery strategies is 1948. The new social contract needs to be based on the principles of human rights, which legally bind countries to guarantee an adequate standard of living for all. Countries need to give an effective remedy to those denied an adequate standard of living by mainstreaming this right in national and local laws and regulations. Recovery plans should consider different ways in which some groups have suffered more than others from the pandemic and seek to correct the inequalities that led to disparities in the first place. Although the right to social security and right to housing are both human rights, 4 billion people are still socially unprotected and 1.8 billion people live in inadequate housing. Countries that have invested in protecting economic and social rights are likely to be more resilient to pandemics.98

Given that staying at home is the frontline defence to COVID-19, ensuring that everybody has an adequate home should be at the centre of the pandemic response. COVID-19 reinforced the urgency to realize the human right to an adequate standard of living for all, which includes the right to adequate housing and encompasses habitability, tenure security, availability of services, location, affordability, accessibility by all groups and cultural adequacy.99 Housing and social protection are mutually supportive components of the right to adequate standards of living. Adequate housing is also a component of the right to social security as provided for by Article 9 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.100 This obligates a state party to ensure access to a social security scheme that provides a minimum essential level of benefits to all individuals and families that will enable them to acquire at least essential health care, basic shelter and housing, water and sanitation, foodstuffs, and the most basic forms of education.

In the short term, cities need to prioritize health and make spaces where people live, work, play and transit safer from a public health perspective. Basic hygiene and sanitization measures in public spaces and public transport for instance are examples of this approach. However, in the long term, living conditions need to be improved in all human settlements with a priority on the most under served first. Cities also need to maintain continuity of basic urban services including water, waste collection, public transport with consideration for accessibility and coverage for all, ensuring that affordability is never a barrier. Not all of these have been classified as “essential services” and countries need to revisit this definition to ensure that all basic urban services including waste collection and public transport are classified as essential services and remain open during lockdowns to future pandemics, even if at a reduced frequency.

Effective redistributive policies at the city level are also urgently needed. Considering how the economy can work for all of society requires not only a revision of socio-economic policies but also a shift towards a wider cultural empathy and recognition of the interconnectedness of our communities and societies. These reforms are not only critical for the most marginalized groups in a society that suffer the most from service disruption and the pandemic, but for a healthy, safe, peaceful society as a whole.101

Cities should also focus on expanding capabilities by empowering marginalized communities. The legacy of historic inequalities and discrimination continues to shape the lived realities of minorities, indigenous peoples, migrants, women and other groups who are still unable to access all the rights and benefits of cities. Ensuring the meaningful participation of these marginalized communities is not only essential from a social justice perspective, but will also benefit cities in their recovery through their connections, local knowledge and engagement.

Currently, inequalities in cities are stark in how land is shared among the rich and the poor, and convenient locations especially for affordable and habitable low-income housing are almost impossible in central city areas where land prices are high. What is needed is a longerterm, comprehensive citywide strategy for the provision of land, affordable housing, basic services and public space for all, combined with targeted area-based upgrading in deprived areas. Land and property taxation based on principles of progressive taxation, approved use value and inclusive land use policy, will be key in more equitable land management. These would include tax instruments like levying fees on vacant lands within the city to disincentivize speculation.

New forms of environmental taxation would also help finance service gaps while also bringing more environmental justice. This is an opportune moment to advocate for equity while also building back better with resilience. This is an opportunity for cities to build in new green financing mechanisms into their long-term recovery strategies that penalize higher waste production, water and energy consumption. Currently, even though the urban poor produce the least volume of waste and tend to recycle and reuse more of their waste, they are typically underserved from city collection services. By contrast, supermarkets, restaurants and richer neighbourhoods who produce higher quantities of waste, including plastics are not incentivized to compost, reduce and reuse.

Sports and fitness in the park on the street public free gym © Shutterstock Cities should also focus on expanding capabilities by empowering marginalized communities