Part of a series of briefings highlighting areas of human rights concern during the pandemic, the document explores poverty and increasingly financial stress, homelessness, evictions and security of tenure, reduced access to support services and housing issues faced by Gypsy/Travellers.

It also offers an overview of action taken by the Scottish Government, listing resources, relevant guidance and policy changes.

COVID-19: Implications for the Human Right to Adequate Housing in Scotland is available here.

The other key COVID-19 policy briefings include:

• Care Homes and Human Rights
• Prisons and Human Rights
• Police Use of Temporary Emergency Powers
• The Right to Food
• The Right to Social Security
• Evidence to Scottish Government’s Advisory Group on Economic Recovery
• Evidence submitted to the Scottish Parliament Inquiry into COVID-19 and Human Rights

The SHRC is also finalising a monitoring report on social care, human rights and COVID-19, which it will publish in the coming weeks.

Looking ahead, the Commission has called for and welcomes the Scottish Government’s commitment to a human rights-based approach to a public inquiry into the handling of the pandemic, including what happened in care homes.

It is also calling on the Scottish Government to take a rights-based approach as it plans for economic recovery and social renewal. According to the Commission, this should include pressing ahead with incorporating economic, social, cultural and environmental rights into Scotland’s laws so that a robust framework is in place for the future.