In modern times, the climate crisis has made its presence felt in every way: from rising temperatures to extreme weather events (floods, hurricanes, etc.), every year there are at least two or three cases of natural disasters that sound the alarm for the future of life on the planet and our life on the planet.
By Maria Dimitriadi
The recent Hurricane Milton that hit the state of Florida in the United States – a few days after Hurricane Helene – left behind significant material damage and deaths, including residents of a nursing home in Tampa. Although there were shelters, the message from the state’s Mayor, Jane Castor, was resounding:
“If you choose to stay at the evacuation points, you will die.”
At this point it is important to highlight how the rhetoric of self-protection and ‘individual responsibility’ is promoted as a social policy, having as a result collective concern for the weaker social classes is downgraded. The presentation of staying in your residence as a ‘choice’ reflects a particular way of doing politics, which produces exclusion and is in line with the broader context of the neo-liberal welfare state: in short, ‘let him/her who saves him/herself be saved’.
The obvious solution to such an emergency would be to evacuate the place that is about to be destroyed – however, moving is not as easy or feasible for everyone. For vulnerable groups such as people with health problems, people with disabilities, and people on the spectrum of housing exclusion and poverty, moving from their place of residence is not an option. And for street homeless people, the possibility of (self)protection seems unattainable.
In the case of natural disasters – but also of different crises in general – the shelter dimension is one of the key aspects that has not been taken into account to the extent that it deserves in the formulation of social policies. In Greece, there have been similar examples through the campaign “We Stay at Home” during the pandemic, but also in the case of the Daniel storm in Thessaly, with the referral of flood victims to the homes of neighbors who have not been flooded – thus, “We Leave Home”.
In the context of cascading crises, including climate change, the housing dimension should not be taken for granted in the formulation of social policies. Emergencies have proven not only that it is constantly under pressure, but is perhaps the main way out in the absence of state provision and quality housing services. In our times, however, access to decent housing is a privilege rather than a basic human right.
Maria Dimitriadis, from the Hellenic Network for the Right to Housing.
