As COVID-19 response interventions take effect, millions are being forced to live with less. For a great number of households across the world, the pandemic has meant job loss, reduced work hours, unpaid sick leave, or an inability to undertake informal sector work due to lockdowns. Both renters and homeowners, many of whom live month to month, are now experiencing unprecedented levels of anxiety and stress, and many are unable to pay their rent or mortgage and utility bills. As a result, a great number of people are facing unprecedented economic insecurity and precarity putting at risk the very thing they are being told to do to help flatten the pandemic curve: stay home.States must ensure that all emergency measures taken to contain the virus and prevent individuals and families from losing their homes, lays the groundwork for the realization of the right to housing once the pandemic is over. This is an opportunity to ensure that moving forward housing systems are sustainable and resilient in the face of the next global crisis.

• Khmer