COVID-19 invades the homes of Immigrants
Covid-19 is changing the reality of almost every being on this planet. I won’t spend time expanding on this sentence as anyone reading this blog is keenly aware of that statement. What many are not aware of is the disproportional interrelated issues Covid-19 causes immigrant workers, especially as it relates to housing. I read four articles last week that all came to the same conclusion: living in stable, safe, and affordable accommodations is critical to ensuring public health and safety for vulnerable populations.
Immigrant workers face an increased risk of contracting Covid-19 due to communal, multigenerational households, and have increased rates of serious infection with older and more fragile family members. Immigrant worker housing is often overcrowded, poorly ventilated, and lacking clean water or facilities for handwashing. In addition, many immigrants are not familiar with state and regional moratoriums on eviction, therefore, lack eviction protection.
I realize that these problems are not unique to immigrant workers but they are often more intense and widespread within their community. I believe it is important that each state implement decisive, enforceable housing support policies that protect the health and safety of immigrant workers by:
1) educating immigrants on eviction freezes;
2) assisting with housing payments, and
3) providing safe isolation spaces for those with symptoms or those that have contracted the virus.
Eviction freezes are certainly helping many households during the pandemic, however, according to the July 2020 national survey by the National Housing Law Project 91 of 100 legal aid attorneys reported an illegal eviction in lower-income areas (5). It is also daunting that once the moratorium expires, renters may still be responsible for accumulated debt from missed rent payments.
Providing rent and mortgage payment assistance will help to ensure vulnerable migrant workers retain their housing. During the Great Recession, direct financial payments were an effective means of preventing housing-insecure people from falling into homelessness. Assistance can be delivered by expanding the existing HUD federal housing choice voucher program.
Every sign posted in public spaces and social media memes stresses the importance of physical distancing to contain the spread of COVID-19, but it is impossible for immigrants living in cramped mobile homes, apartments, and dormitory-style housing to distance themselves from their housemates. It is important for state and local governments to both create new housing accommodations and repurpose existing facilities such as hotels, empty military housing, and community centers.
Sources
COVID-19 and the Crisis of Migrant Worker Housing, Alexa Kort and Matthew Dunn (March 2, 2021)
As U.S. healthcare system buckles under pandemic, immigrant & refugee professionals could represent a critical resource, Migration Policy Institute, J. Batalova and M. Fix (April 2020)
Virus’s unseen hot zone: The American farm, Laura Reiley and Beth Reinhard (September 24, 2020)
Migrants and the COVID-19 pandemic: An initial analysis, Lorenzo Guadagno International Organization for Migration (April 2020)
National Housing Law Project Survey, Deidre Swesnik (July 2020)
Extend CARES Act Eviction Moratorium, Combine With Rental Assistance to Promote Housing Stability, Sonya Acosta, Anna Bailey and Peggy Bailey (July 27, 2020)
Mitigating Housing Instability During a Pandemic, Michelle Layser, Edward De Barbieri, Andrew Greenlee, Tracy A Kaye (July 22, 2020)