Pandemic and fundamental right to housing: new criteria for adequate housing in the face of COVID-19 challenges in Brazil (2020-2022)

Abstract

The pandemic problem brought with it a new social reality in the moral realm as well as in the habits that people engage in daily, which has irreversibly altered the way people live. In light of this, the goal of this research is to look into the fundamental right to housing, as well as the right to adequate housing, as outlined in the International Covenant on Economic and Social Rights (ICESCR), in the context of changes in people's daily routines brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic in terms of whether or not the environment is habitable. As a result, it explores whether the COVID-19 pandemic influenced the purchasing of houses with a larger number of rooms, given that families began to utilize the home more regularly. It specifically asks if the habitability parameter was changed to satisfy the new requirements that occurred because of the epidemic. To obtain an answer to this question, we will investigate whether or not there has been an increase in the desire for or acquisition of larger homes since the outbreak began. This is because a large percentage of the population is forced to work and study from home. Bibliographic research and data collection are carried out within the framework of the hypothetical-deductive methodology, using information obtained from the website of SECOVI-SSP (Union of Real Estate Purchase and Sale Companies) in relation to the cities of Campinas and Bauru from 2011 to 2022. It has been noted that the pandemic scenario has prompted people's daily lives to become an experience of social containment procedures with the goal of decreasing viral propagation. Despite this, there were no significant changes in the consumption model of new residences in the municipalities of Campinas and Bauru, even during the zenith of the COVID-19 pandemic.