1) Future of Living and Flatsharing
How does the prediction of an increased amount of pandemics affect the future of flatsharing?
Read2) Household Health and the Individual’s Responsibility
All of us have a right to health. What happens when it’s not in your own hands?
Read3) Grey area of Authority and Responsibility
Who is responsible for the health and safety of residents when talking about infection prevention in a home environment?
ReadImage: Unsplash / Alev Takil
People are moving to cities like never before
According to the UN, the urban population will most likely increase from 4 close to 10 billion by 2050, nearly doubling our cities. It is getting crowded to say the least. Already 3,6 million people live in overcrowded homes in the UK and a lot of young professionals find it hard to move out of their parents homes when hoping to start their own independent lives.
The UK has been experiencing a housing crisis ever since Thatcher’s Right to Buy Act and shared homes have been the only solution for many. The rents have been increasing year by year and the queues for social housing are years long. Foreign investors have bought a whopping 1 in 5 of all houses in the market as investments which have skyrocketed the prices.
“I didn’t move in with my boyfriend because that was the
next step for us, we did it because we didn’t want to live with strangers.”
Designer, 27, London
Sharing a home is the new normal
Many young professionals, students and people without bigger families have resorted in living in flat shares. And it is not just the younger generations - people in their 30s and 40s are also finding renting for just themselves way too expensive. The cost is not the only pro: many urbanites feel lonely in the buzz of megacities and sharing a home has created a way of forming small communities as an option next to the traditional family model.
Our generation is called the Generation Rent which here in London means that 50% of this age group are predicted never to own a home. The direction these current events are pointing towards, shows us the housing situation is not looking any different any time soon. We are looking at a future of ever denser living spaces, and due to the pandemic we are experiencing as we speak, now a recession and many will face financial struggles for years to come.
It is safe to say the amount of flat sharers will increase and more people will join in the lifestyle of sharing their lives and bathrooms with people they might not know at all before signing their agreements.
“I live in a flatshare because the prices in London are ridiculous.
As a student I have no other choice.”
Student, 24, London
Images: Unsplash / Maria Ziegler, Josh Hild, Ryoji Iwata, Chris Briggs
Future of pandemics
Many of us have lived with a mindset of trust - trusting that no matter what happens the doctors will know what to do and this has now changed. Rising levels of antimicrobial resistance are causing people to die of infections we used to be able to fight with antibiotics, and the amount of novel infections will increase in the following decades.
Sadly, the science community was expecting a pandemic like this already last fall. “Experts warn the world grossly unprepared for Pandemics”, said the headline of The Guardian last September - 3 months before the first case of coronavirus in China.
As we know now, our cities are getting denser, which also means we are expanding our unnatural living areas closer to the wilderness, in this case, specifically the wild animals. Zoonotic disease spread, meaning a virus originating from an animal species jumps to people, is predicted to increase. Around 60% of new infectious diseases come from animals, according to the WHO.
There is a strong link between our planet’s wellbeing, the rapid population growth and overuse of resources and the novel infectious diseases.
The COVID-19 has been said to stem from a market selling wildlife for food, and the swine flu we went through in 2009 also came from food production. Nations are ramping up the food industry to feed the growing population and it appears, changing one’s diet to a plant based one might impact not only the climate crisis, but the infectious disease crisis as well.
Image: Unsplash / Faruk Kaymak
We have seen amazing pieces of news showing the return of dolphins to the Venetian canals and thedisappearing pollution clouds over China now that we are not moving around but staying still.
The unfortunate statement is, that climate change will not be solved with this lockdown period and the crisis will continue to impose us to more threats of viruses. As the ice caps keep melting, they are said to start revealing viruses buried beneath their layers hundreds of years ago. We are not flying anywhere now, but we have been doubling the amount of travelling in the past decade which also escalated the rapid spread of corona. The future of travel will have to change, and so does the way we live together.
If flat sharing and co-living communities will be the social, sustainable and financially living option for masses, what does the future of living look like, when we are predicting a future of many more pandemics by 2050?
Image: Unsplash / Mike Stezycki
Freedom of choice, movement, and the right to health
During these past months we continuously talk about the health of the public – public healthcare and the NHS, who are working hard to keep the nation running and people healthy. Before the pandemic we spoke of the government’s responsibility to provide healthcare to its citizens, but the focus has turned to the other side of the graph.
The citizens now have new government coordinated “duties to the community”: infection prevention measures to keep other people safe. We need to stay home and now alert, save lives and protect the NHS. Without these “community duties” we cannot avert the crisis.
All of us have a right to health, it is a human right. While protecting this right and the public’s health against this novel virus, states have resorted to a never-before-seen extent of limiting other rights we have: the freedom of movement, among others. After the government’s decision to lock us inside our homes, we have seen ripple effects of behaviors and unintended consequences, such as the terrifying rise of domestic violence and mental health problems. The disproportion of affected communities has been a powerful reminder of our different health and socio-economic levels and where we come from and that the work that we do has a huge impact on the safety and wellbeing of a person.
Household Health and the downside to sharing
Have we talked enough about situations where the discussion is not private or public, but collective? By household health we mean the different factors of living with other people that impact the health of the home as an entity.
The closer you are to other people, the more you are at risk. The most crucial piece of the pandemic-response scenario is implementing social distancing. The past events have revealed something that might have been ignored in many of the services - a weakness in infection prevention practices. Businesses are working hard towards figuring out how to continue their operations with a 2m distance between their customers.
Events that took place in many care homes, housing the most high-risk citizens, speak for the worst-case scenario of how things can go terribly wrong in shared living spaces. The stories have been utterly shocking. Smaller, less life threatening consequences, but still life changing in a negative way, have been the eviction stories we have heard. People have been evicted from student accommodations with only a week’s notice after the management realized what a full house isolation would mean in the case one resident fell ill.
“I was evicted of my shared student accommodation during the lockdown
and I was left to find a place in 7 days with no support.
It was scary, I was practically homeless. They didn’t want to take responsibility
for a full isolation if one of us showed symptoms.”
Student, 26, London
All adults maintain a complex web of relationships, and more adults living in a household means more webs intersecting and more opportunities for the virus to expand its grip. Staying 2 meters apart in these tiny Victorian corridors and kitchens is impossible.
The contrast between lockdown life as a millionaire who can fly their private jet far far away from others vs a young student, who works in a supermarket, is imposed on interacting with hundreds of people a day at work and 5 more at home, is drastic. This is one of the reasons we have focused on flat sharers, who live in these mixed social spiderwebs and small spaces.
“ I cleaned the shared bathroom on my own for a year, my flatmates
just ignored my attempts to split tasks. I hated living with them.
If I had to live with them during this pandemic,
I would be terrified. ”
Student, 24, London
Shared households reveal an interesting, unique area, where the responsibility of one’s actions are in the spotlight, without any authority supervising what happens behind these closed doors. Before this novel disease, the risk of your flatmate harming your health was lower and mainly circulated around food safety, smoking and the general hygiene, but now that there is a fast spreading disease with no cure, what will need to change? How is the right to health protected in home environments?
There is already a prediction of the increase of private car ownership, because of the rising fear of using public transport after the lockdown is lifted. The same thought is applicable for housing - many are already planning to move as far from their flat mates as they can once the lockdown is lifted. But what about those who cannot afford distancing themselves? How can they feel safe at home now and in the future?
Clashing ways of coping and preventing diseases
Many are not able to have a say in who they live with, especially tenants in houses in multiple occupancy, HMOs. Strangers sharing a home might have completely different ways of coping under pressure, working different jobs that have varying risks, and belong to the risk groups without the others even knowing.
To understand the different combinations of extreme behaviors that might occur within a single flatshare, we condensed our interviews to 4 behavioral extremes. These types are flexible, and a person might move from one to another as time passes. Some might aim to control everything they can to treat their fear (Anxious Do-It- Alls), causing another flatmate, who’d rather ignore the matter (Stubborn Ignorers) to get annoyed with the fuss.
“ I’m young and healthy, why would I worry, it’s just the flu.
No one can make me wear a mask.”
Flatsharer, 36
Washing your hands is pointless if the others are not doing it right. Both the over- and under-doer have their reasons, but how do they agree on the right level of action amidst this Infomedia of different guidelines? To be and feel safe, the focus comes down to the ability to discuss and agree on things, which is often avoided out of fear of harming the atmosphere of the home.
“ I have to protect my flatmate to protect my health,
that’s why I’m making sure we all wear masks when we go out.
If they didn’t have their own masks, I would share from my stash.”
Student, 24
We have a new social responsibility of handwashing and social distancing, and it needs to expand to the home environment too. The infection prevention practices of shared homes need to be innovated and implemented, to keep the residents and the affordable living options safe now, and in the future.
What are these new responsibilities that are not yet defined? When you move in with someone and share not just spaces but the bacteria and viruses you carry with you, is losing some of your freedom to protect the health of others reasonable? Do we have to be more protected against disease the closer we live with other people? Where is the balance between the right to make decisions of one’s own behavior vs. the health of the people you live with?
Image: Unsplash / Ross Sneddon
Safety of renting
All residential accommodation, including HMOs are subject to the Local Governments’ Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS). It makes sure the health standards of all residential accommodation are intact. Landlords are legally responsible for taking care of making sure the electricity, gas and fire safety as well as sanitation and hygiene spaces are safe according to this system.
One could argue a lot of the things on the list are mainly focusing on the health connecting to the property rather than everyday living needs. The residents agree to not harm the property and the landlord makes sure the property is safe for the tenants when they move in.
“Before the pandemic we usually dealt with disputes surrounding
poor hygiene and pests. During this pandemic we have seen 25%
of the rooms being left empty after people have
moved back to their families and home countries.”
Estate agent, London
In this COVID-19 life we live now, flatshares have been left to their own resorts to deal with the dilemma of what to do. They have been left to trust each other to not bring the virus home, intentionally or unintentionally. The example of the Trojan Horse is quite a good one here; The virus is something you can’t see or notice until it’s inside your home and attacking you.
“I moved back in with my parents as soon as the lockdown started,
I was too afraid to stay in the flatshare.”
Flatsharer, 30, London
HMOs - houses in multiple occupancy, are homes in which more than one household shares spaces, such as bathroom, toilet or cooking facilities. Most properties haven’t originally been designed for that purpose and have been later divided to house multiple tenants. The tenancy type allows the landlord to make more profit of their property by having multiple tenancy agreements at once and as we pointed out earlier, the more people near each other, the higher the risk of infection.
Is providing a working bathroom enough to ensure the safety of the home during situations such as a pandemic? Currently, the sole advice the Landlord’s Association has given to HMO landlords and estate managers has been to clean more often using disinfectant cleaning products and advise tenants of the importance of following hygiene practices by putting up posters.
Who will step up to support renters?
No one has yet stepped up to take responsibility for the shared health connected to what happens when the residents behave in ways that impose them to infections; there is a clear gray area of presence of authority. We have heard stories of people, NHS workers as well, being evicted unlawfully out of fear of getting infected, or people fleeing to their parents out of distrust and disagreement situations caused by the actions of their flatmates.
“I live with 2 flatmates and we thought we could rely on each other
to know what to do during this lockdown. They keep going out to meet
their friends and I’m concerned because I’m in the risk group.
I did not say anything because I don’t want to cause tension on top
of the stress of the lockdown. It’s also 2 against 1.”
Flatsharer, 24, London
It’s difficult to stop your roommate from seeing a friend, inviting his girlfriend over or stopping by a house party despite the government restrictions. The residents are usually standing on an equal pedestal of power. Imagine a scenario, where you are a member or a risk group, and your flatmate ignores all government guidelines.
What do you do when your home is not safe because it’s shared? Calling the police seems like a bad solution and calling your landlord might end up in a flatmate version of a “he said she said” situation and might destroy the relationship between the residents.
“ I sent an email to my tenants with NHS instructions,
and asked them if they are showing symptoms.
But that is not my right to know that. I’m worried that if I intervene more
I might be held accountable and sued if something goes wrong.”
Landlord, London
To our surprise, many of the flatsharers we have talked to didn’t even expect their landlords or agencies to support them, as battles over agreements or small fixes in the house had already been painting a picture of ignorance and prioritising profits over wellbeing. Many have mentioned the local councils as a logical and trusted source for support.
“I think it would be great if the local council would strengthen
the community in these times and the measures would help.
I think it would be good though if the Landlord would be included too.
I think in general more communication and the feeling
of not being alone/ being together would help a lot.”
Flatsharer, London
Conclusions
If pandemic safety was shaped to a rental agreement like the need for a fire alarm is, what would the flat be given, and how would the residents use it?
To be prepared for novel viruses, would hand sanitizer and cleaning supplies be something that comes with the rent tenants pay?
In scenarios such as the pandemics, when the cause and effect of health is highly dependent on what the residents of a flat do rather than how safe the home itself is, is there a need for a new agreement between the tenants themselves? Is there a new policy that would result in changes in rental agreements adding a clause for respecting other people’s health and how to live during pandemics?
We think there is a need for a way to agree on best practises and collaboratively shape the new normal of safer co-living and solving this need would increase the safety of shared living.
To feel, and be more safe at home, flatshares need to have:
What do you think? Don’t hesitate to get in touch, we are happy to continue discussing this further and hear other perspectives to add to our thinking!
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