Pandemic precarity and everyday disparity: gendered housing needs in North America

We identify key issues for housing researchers, practitioners, and advocates working in the United States and Canada to consider, both during the COVID-19 pandemic and far beyond. First, we draw upon feminist and intersectional literatures on gendered inequalities and social structures, which provide the often forgotten or overlooked context for women’s experiences in housing. This includes the broader insight that too frequently, women have not been involved in shaping the policy and planning climate around housing, even as they disproportionately are affected by them. Second, we describe women’s housing-related precarity and some of its implications, grounding this research in a political economic critique of the way that housing and resources are allocated and the neoliberal climate that values profit over people and that has induced instability for many women in so many communities. We conclude by offering examples of organizations and initiatives that work to address the disparities identified herein. Throughout the paper, we emphasize the need for intersectional and interdisciplinary collaborations (for example, among queer, anti-racist, feminist, political economic, and other scholars) that engage with complexity and orient toward equity and justice.