New London housing developments should be built with home working in mind, experts have said.
A legacy of the pandemic should be new housing policies that “prioritise adequate space for home-working and access to domestic and/or neighbourhood green spaces”, according to a new report by Queen Mary University of London’s (QMUL) Covid research unit.
Academics interviewed dozens of Londoners, from a range of different ethnicities, faiths, social and age brackets, about their experiences during the pandemic.
The report, published on Wednesday, found that their lives at home during Covid-19 "were shaped by their housing conditions" and those without any outside space were left feeling “restricted”.
With hybrid and home working still widespread across the capital, the“inequality and precarity” of London housing must be “urgently addressed”, professor Alison Blunt, a human geographer at QMUL, said.
She added: “Our research highlights many lessons from life in lockdown for local and national leaders and policy-makers.
“Covid-19 hit London particularly hard, and its impact deepened existing issues and inequalities in the city, so long-term change is needed if we are to truly recover from the pandemic.
“The inequality and precarity of housing across the capital must be urgently addressed.
“Personal stories shared in our research underline that our homes are crucial to our wellbeing, while also showing how many Londoners live in overcrowded conditions with no outdoor space.
“Since home-working remains widespread, future housing policies and developments must ensure space to work from home, with access to parks or gardens to take breaks from that work.
“The Covid public inquiry launched this week is due to look first at planning, preparedness and political decision-making – areas where our research, and wider evidence from the pandemic so far, suggests the government really fell short.”
