In an era where the impact of global events transcends borders, the lessons we learn from crises such as COVID-19 become invaluable tools for shaping our future, including how it impacts issues such as homelessness. Pandemic Preparedness: International Lessons from COVID-19 is a new eBook that illustrates the large issue of how COVID-19 has shaped our experiences, understandings, and approaches to homelessness. Edited by Dr. Rebecca Schiff, Ashley Wilkinson, Sarah Cullingham, and Dr. Kristy Buccieri, this eBook is the second in a series that investigates the impacts of pandemic outbreaks on homelessness.
Impact of COVID-19 on Homelessness
COVID-19 didn’t just expose flaws in pandemic responses – it also highlighted severe deficiencies in how we address homelessness, including the health needs of individuals experiencing homelessness. As the pandemic continued, it became clear that homelessness is not only a social issue, but also a significant global health crisis.
This eBook examined the global responses that communities had to the pandemic in the context of homelessness. It revealed that the pandemic has negatively affected people experiencing homelessness – including marginalized subpopulations (e.g., women, seniors, Indigenous youth, etc.) and the systems designed to support them – while revealing the macro and global responses to the pandemic and the pandemic’s impact on social service provision and models. For example, we found that:
- The pandemic exposed critical weaknesses in the public health system, including a shortage of personal protective equipment, staffing deficiencies, and ineffective communication between agencies.
- Some cities responded to the crisis with quarantine hotels and isolation shelters specifically for people experiencing homelessness recovering from COVID-19. These measures highlighted the essential role of stable housing in protecting health and providing a sense of security during a pandemic.
- The pandemic strained homelessness services worldwide. Frontline workers faced significant challenges, including burnout, secondary traumatic stress, and difficulties in adapting to remote work and virtual service delivery. They had to navigate the urgency of addressing immediate needs with potential long-term implications.
Lessons for the Future
Despite advancements made since previous pandemics like SARS and H1N1, there remains a critical need to evaluate how effectively we are learning from these past experiences. COVID-19 highlighted the urgency of creating more resilient systems that not only address the immediate impacts of pandemics, but also work towards addressing the health needs of individuals experiencing homelessness.
This eBook offers recommendations to policymakers, frontline workers, service providers, and researchers for improving public health care approaches and response strategies to better support people experiencing homelessness. This is to ensure that they are better protected in future crises. Additionally, it emphasizes the importance of continuous improvement to adapt to evolving challenges.
