Leaving: Residential mobility and housing conditions in France during the Covid-19 epidemic

In the spring of 2020, a national lockdown was declared in France to control the Covid-19 epidemic - the longest and strictest to date. This led to spontaneous population movements, widely publicised in the media as the urban exodus of Parisians. But were departures from large cities to low-density areas the only types of mobility during this period? And what can we learn from housing changes during lockdown about the ordinary residential practices and dwelling conditions of households, as well as about the resources mobilised to cope with these exceptional situations? Based on the EpiCOV survey (Inserm-Drees), conducted in France among a sample of 135,000 people aged 15 and over at the end of the first lockdown, this article examines the different types of residential mobility that took place in the spring of 2020 on French territory. While this study does not predict whether or not these movements are to become permanent, or whether they would be repeated during further phases of lockdown, it highlights the heterogeneity of mobility practices, captured here in terms of distance travelled, changes within the urban gradient, types and conditions of housing, as well as the variety of resources mobilised according to sex, age and social position of individuals. While long-distance mobility more often concerns wealthy populations, local movements are almost as frequent and concern more heterogeneous fractions of the population. © 2023 Geographie-Cites. All rights reserved.

Editorial

While COVID-19 had many negatives it also brought with it many opportunities for growth and increased incomes by young farmers who managed to capitalize on supply chain disruptions to take a significant local market share. Data analysis showed that youth with better developmental relationships with parents, peers, and other adults had higher post-program levels of internal socialemotional strengths (e.g., commitment to learning, positive identity). The article examined how the developmental relationships of African youth participants in a youth economic development program helped them to build skills that could potentially improve their socioeconomic conditions.

Widening the gap: the differential impact of COVID-19 on tenants and homeowners

In this article, we study how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the housing inequalities between Flemish tenants and homeowners in terms of housing affordability, security and adequacy. Analyzing online survey data, we find that the pandemic increased the existing affordability gap in Flanders between homeowners and tenants. These differences between tenants and homeowners are explained by heterogeneous unemployment and income shocks. We find similar results for the differential impact on housing insecurity. Furthermore, relatively more tenants experience problems with the size of their dwelling due to the pandemic compared to homeowners. We find that these differences are best explained by the dwelling type as well as the household size, unemployment and work-from-home. The analysis shows that the COVID-19 crisis had a significant effect on the housing conditions of Flemish tenants and homeowners and exacerbated existing inequalities. © 2022 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Associations between COVID-19 risk, multiple environmental exposures, and housing conditions: A study using individual-level GPS-based real-time sensing data.

Few studies have used individual-level data to explore the association between COVID-19 risk with multiple environmental exposures and housing conditions. Using individual-level data collected with GPS-tracking smartphones, mobile air-pollutant and noise sensors, an activity-travel diary, and a questionnaire from two typical neighborhoods in a dense and well-developed city (i.e., Hong Kong), this study seeks to examine 1) the associations between multiple environmental exposures (i.e., different types of greenspace, PM2.5, and noise) and housing conditions (i.e., housing types, ownership, and overcrowding) with individuals' COVID-19 risk both in residential neighborhoods and along daily mobility trajectories; 2) which social groups are disadvantaged in COVID-19 risk through the perspective of the neighborhood effect averaging problem (NEAP). Using separate multiple linear regression and logistical regression models, we found a significant negative association between COVID-19 risk with greenspace (i.e., NDVI) both in residential areas and along people's daily mobility trajectories. Meanwhile, we also found that high open space and recreational land exposure and poor housing conditions were positively associated with COVID-19 risk in high-risk neighborhoods, and noise exposure was positively associated with COVID-19 risk in low-risk neighborhoods. Further, people with work places in high-risk areas and poor housing conditions were disadvantaged in COVID-19 risk.

Life and health of labor migrants from Central Asia in Russia in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic

The study contains data analysis on living conditions, information about COVID-19, housing conditions, health status and practice of testing labor migrants from Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan in Russia for HIV and tuberculosis (TB) in the context of the pandemic by gender and country of citizenship. The empirical basis of estimates was made up of data from the 2020 survey of 900 labor migrants from Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan living in Russia. The data analysis showed that the COVID-19 pandemic has worsened situation of the majority families of labor migrants from Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan in Russia with wage reduction and psychological stress becoming the most significant difficulties (especially for female labor migrants). The Internet and online social networks were the main sources of information about COVID-19. Less than half of legally employed labor migrants from Kyrgyzstan used Compulsory health insurance (CHI) certificate, and they were less likely to undergo fluorographic examinations and HIV testing compared to labor migrants from Tajikistan and Uzbekistan (especially men). Most of the labor migrants from Central Asia in Russia did not pay enough attention to prevention and health maintenance and even deteriorated their health overextending themselves in Russia, as in the pre-COVID-19 period. Health problems either have developed or worsened, including due to unfavorable housing conditions. The study shows the need for improving access to and quality of medical services for labor migrants from Central Asia in Russia and modernizing mechanisms for informing migrants, including through digital environment and social networks. Monitoring of future changes in migration policy with due regard to new experience in migration management during the pandemic seems promising.

A study of the health status of the Slum Dwellers and the present healthcare facilities in the Slum areas

The spread of COVID- 19 pandemic is a wake-up call for cities, towns and areas for proper planning and sanitation. The overcrowding and exodus of people from rural to urban areas in search of employment has created a shortage of basic civic amenities and healthcare facilities. This affects their health status and their health seeking behaviour. The present descriptive research study was conducted in selected slum areas with stratified proportionate random sampling method. A survey questionnaire was used, and data was collected in two phases. Data was analyzed with the help of SPSS version25. Significance was tested with Chi-Square test and Logistic Regression. Low annual income is the barrier in maintaining good health of the slum households and it influences their health status. Healthcare expenditure of the slum households was very less. The district hospitals need up gradation to include all the consultation services. Disease incidence was found between age group 1 to 4 years and 45-65 years. The slum community's participation in health care services was needed to create a slum-free society. Proper housing, sanitation, safe drinking water, affordable healthcare and maternal and childcare services were very essential in these slum areas for their improvement.

Creating Safe Classroom Learning Spaces for Students Living in Urban Areas of Poverty

The current pilot study introduced trauma-informed professional development for teachers in an urban, K-8, Title I public school prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Equipping middle school teachers with trauma knowledge and resources enabled them to modify their pedagogical approach to align better with students' emotional and academic needs shaped by living in poverty. Thematic analysis of qualitative data (i.e., 48 teacher journal entries, one focus group transcript) produced three overarching themes related to changes in teaching practices, student engagement, and classroom culture: (a) transforming to teach (i.e., teacher empathy, awareness, understanding of students' living conditions), (b) teaching to transform (i.e., teacher critical thinking about students' needs, reactions, and consequences), and (c) transforming to learn (student engagement, expressiveness, confidence). This study's findings highlight how middle school educators can effectively implement trauma-sensitive techniques in their classrooms to enhance safe learning spaces, student support, and classroom management for stress-affected young people. This study's university-community school partnership may offer a model for the design, structure, and resources necessary to implement classroom-level, trauma-informed professional development for Title I nonclinical middle school personnel.

Can Homes Affect Well-Being? A Scoping Review among Housing Conditions, Indoor Environmental Quality, and Mental Health Outcomes.

The purpose of the scoping review is to explore the relationship between housing conditions, indoor environmental quality (IEQ), and mental health implications on human well-being. In fact, time spent at home increased due to the recent COVID-19 lockdown period, and social-sanitary emergencies are expected to grow due to the urbanization phenomenon. Thus, the role of the physical environment in which we live, study, and work, has become of crucial importance, as the literature has recently highlighted. This scoping review, conducted on the electronic database Scopus, led to the identification of 366 articles. This, after the screening processes based on the inclusion criteria, led to the final inclusion of 31 papers related specifically to the OECD area. The review allowed the identification of five housing conditions [house type, age, and floor level; housing qualities; household composition; neighborhood; green spaces] that, by influencing the IEQ parameters, had impacts on the mental health outcomes addressed. By synthesizing the contributions of the review, a list of design recommendations has been provided. These will serve as a basis for future researchers, from which to develop measures to reduce inequalities in housing by making them healthier, more resilient, and salutogenic.

Understanding the mental health impacts of poor quality private-rented housing during the UK's first COVID-19 lockdown.

This paper examines the mental health impacts of poor quality private-rented housing in the north of England during the UK's first COVID-19 lockdown. The paper draws on data collected from semi-structured telephone interviews with 40 renters in the private-rented sector. We use the Power Threat Meaning Framework to highlight how substandard housing was a social and material vulnerability which, underpinned by powerlessness, resulted in threats that created and exacerbated the mental-ill health of precarious private renters. The paper suggests the pandemic and increased time spent in unhealthy places of residence can create stresses at a time of broader structural fragility, and calls for the greater engagement and integration of health practitioners in the future development of housing policy at all levels.

Examining the Influence of Housing Conditions and Daily Greenspace Exposure on People's Perceived COVID-19 Risk and Distress.

Many people have worried about COVID-19 infection, job loss, income reduction, and family conflict during the COVID-19 pandemic. Some social groups may be particularly vulnerable due to their residential neighborhoods and daily activities. On the other hand, people's daily exposure to greenspace offers promising pathways for reducing these worries associated with COVID-19. Using data collected with a questionnaire and a two-day activity diary from two typical neighborhoods in Hong Kong, this study examines how people's housing conditions and daily greenspace exposure affect their perceived COVID-19 risk and distress (i.e., worries about job loss, income reduction, and family conflict) during the pandemic. First, the study compares people's perceived COVID-19 risk and distress based on their residential neighborhoods. Further, it examines the associations between people's perceived COVID-19 risk and distress with their housing conditions and daily greenspace exposure using ordinal logistic regression models. The results indicate that living in a high-risk neighborhood, being married, renting a residential unit, and living in a large household are significantly associated with a higher neighborhood-based perceived COVID-19 risk and distress during the pandemic. In addition, people also reported lower mobility-based perceived COVID-19 risk when compared to their neighborhood-based perceived COVID-19 risk, while they still have a high perceived COVID-19 risk in their occupational venues if they have to work in a high-risk district (e.g., Kowloon). Lastly, daily greenspace exposure (i.e., woodland) could reduce people's perceived COVID-19 risk and distress. These results have important implications for the public health authority when formulating the measures during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Work Organization and Effects of Isolation on the Perception of Misconduct in Italian Universities During Covid-19 Pandemic

Universities and institutions of higher education have been forced to move study and work activities remotely to contrast the spread of the pandemic due to Covid-19. Given the differences in roles, opportunities and operational functions of students, faculty members and university employees, it was deemed important to investigate whether any difficulties encountered in this condition of isolation may have led the three different groups to behave in an ethically inappropriate manner. To this end a questionnaire was developed and administered to a sample of 706 respondents, i.e. faculty members, students and technical and administrative staff. The study participants filled in a questionnaire aimed at investigating the operating conditions of working and studying at a distance, relating them to the perception of possible misbehavior by their own group and the other two subgroups. Results put in evidence that the three groups considered faced different difficulties that had different effects on perceptions in relation to the misconduct they experienced or perpetrated. Faculty appear to be essentially suffering from problems experienced even before the pandemic, such as an excess of competition that leads them to see their own colleagues as unfair. Students have less satisfactory housing conditions and demonstrate an awe of faculty that leads them to express less dissent when they witness misconduct. Technical and administrative staff appear disadvantaged in terms of technical tools and less equipped to process the negative feedback they receive about their work. However, they more than the other two groups are convinced that misbehaviors have decreased during home quarantine. On the contrary, faculty and students reported that misconduct have increased during the period of isolation. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Disentangling the associations between past childhood adversity and psychopathology during the COVID-19 pandemic: The mediating roles of specific pandemic stressors and coping strategies.

BACKGROUND: Individuals with a history of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) display heightened symptoms of psychopathology during the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet, no study has investigated what aspects of the pandemic are of particular concern for this population and ways in which strategies to coping with pandemic stressors may exacerbate their clinical symptomatology. OBJECTIVE: This study explores what pandemic stressors and coping strategies are associated with ACEs, depression, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) during the COVID-19 pandemic, before investigating whether the identified chief stressors and coping styles mediate the effects of ACEs on depression and PTSD. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: 1107 Greek adults were sampled from the general population. METHODS: Participants completed the Adverse Childhood Experiences Questionnaire, Patient Health Questionnaire, Primary Care PTSD Screen for DSM-5, Pandemic Stressor Scale, and Brief Cope Scale. RESULTS: ACEs and depression were both predominantly associated with difficult housing conditions as a stressor (b = 0.079, p < .001 and b = 0.046, p < .001, respectively), whereas PTSD was mainly related to fear of contracting the COVID-19 virus (b = 0.065, p < .001). Self-blame was the main coping strategy associated with both ACEs (b = 0.046, p = .010), depression (b = 0.071, p < .0005), and PTSD (b = 0.088, p < .0005). Difficult housing conditions and self-blame further demonstrated a significant serial mediation effect in the relationship between ACEs with both depression (b = 0.105, 95% CI [0.0607, 0.158]) and PTSD (b = 0.019, 95% CI [0.011, 0.031]). CONCLUSIONS: The findings indicate that policy makers should identify ways of ameliorating challenging housing conditions, and that service providers should target self-blame in the psychological treatment of adults with ACEs during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Change in the Affordability of Owner-Occupied Housing in the Context of Rising Energy Prices

Household energy constitutes an important share of affordable housing. Unaffordable housing and inadequate household energy represent a new dimension of poverty. Connections between energy, housing affordability and well-being are still under-researched. Building on housing affordability framework, this study explores the magnitude in changes in affordability of acquisition and use of an apartment between January 2018 and January 2022. Over the last four years, the real estate market in Europe has changed significantly. This paper deals with primary data for the Czech Republic, where acquisition prices of residential real estate increased depending on the region in the range of 50 to 120%. Since January 2022, there has been a sharp rise in energy prices and a tightening of conditions for the acquisition of mortgage loans. All these factors affect the standard of living in the Czech Republic. The article quantifies the magnitude of this change by calculating shares of total housing costs to total average net household income for the period January 2018 and January 2022. It is found that the affordability of owner-occupied housing in the Czech Republic has deteriorated and part of the middle class will be forced to move to the rental housing sector, multifamily housing and sharing. Finally, we argue that energy poverty needs to be considered in addressing the government housing policies. The aim of the article is to analyze the changes that have taken place in the real estate market over the last four years in relation to the growth of total housing costs and energy costs associated with housing.

A poorly understood disease? The impact of COVID-19 on the income gradient in mortality over the course of the pandemic.

Mortality inequalities remain substantial in many countries, and large shocks such as pandemics could amplify them further. The unequal distribution of COVID-19 confirmed cases suggests that this is the case. Yet, evidence on the causal effect of the epidemic on mortality inequalities remains scarce. In this paper, we exploit exhaustive municipality-level data in France, one of the most severely hit country in the world, to identify a negative relationship between income and excess mortality within urban areas, that persists over COVID-19 waves. Over the year 2020, the poorest municipalities experienced a 30% higher increase in excess mortality. Our analyses can rule out an independent contribution of lockdown policies to this heterogeneous impact. Finally, we find evidence that both labor-market exposure and housing conditions are major determinants of the epidemic-induced effects of COVID-19 on mortality inequalities, but that their respective role depends on the state of the epidemic.

The one-sided explanations of a multifactorial coronavirus disease.

Short-term interventions to suppress COVID-19 completely dominate the public, political and even the professional discussion on what explains observed differences in mortality and morbidity across countries. This leads to an exaggerated view of what such measures can accomplish. Factors such as housing and social conditions as well as travel patterns are equally important but neglected aspects of the COVID-19 development. A multifactorial disease needs a multivariate analytical approach.

Psychological Symptoms and Behavioral Changes in Children and Adolescents During the Early Phase of COVID-19 Quarantine in Three European Countries.

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic forced the home confinement of the majority of population around the world, including a significant number of children and adolescents, for several weeks in 2020. Negative psychological effects have been identified in adults, but research about the impact of this type of social distancing measure on children and adolescents is scarce. The present study aimed to describe and compare the immediate psychological and behavioral symptoms associated with COVID-19 quarantine in children and adolescents from three southern European countries with different levels of restrictions (Italy, Spain, and Portugal). Parents of 1,480 children and adolescents (52.8% boys) between 3 and 18 years old (M = 9.15, SD = 4.27) participated in the study. An online survey using snowball sampling techniques was conducted during 15 days between March and April 2020, representing the early phase of the quarantine associated with COVID-19 outbreak. Parents answered questionnaires about sociodemographic data, housing conditions, immediate psychological responses during quarantine (e.g., anxiety, mood, sleep, and behavioral alterations), patterns of use of screens, daily physical activity, and sleep hours before and during the quarantine. The results revealed an increase in children's psychological and behavioral symptoms, increased screen-time, reduced physical activity, and more sleep hours/night. Italian children presented less psychological and behavioral symptoms compared with Portuguese and Spanish children. In general, hierarchical multiple regressions revealed that having an outdoor exit in the house (e.g., garden, terrace) contributed to lower levels of psychological and behavioral symptomatology. Future studies are needed to identify family and individual variables that can better predict children and adolescents' well-being during and after quarantine. Recommendations for families and implications for practice are discussed.