Assessing the impacts of COVID-19 on the quality of Brazilian social housing

Impacts on the built environment increase user vulnerability and impair their adaptive capacity. Identifying the main impacts in the context of Social Housing (SH) and residents’ perceptions can be used to establish priorities for action to promote better living conditions. These actions have never been more relevant given the urgency imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, this article is part of a master's research dissertation entitled "Assessing the impacts of Covid-19 on social housing and its adaptations to a more resilient built environment". This article addresses the main results of the bibliographic research that forms the theoretical foundation and the empirical research, whose objects of analysis are two SH complexes, in the city of Uberlândia, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Through observation in a case study, the research is based on quantitative-qualitative post-occupation evaluation (POE) methods for data collection and analysis. The results show that small and insufficient living spaces and the need for constant renovations and repairs generate dissatisfaction among residents. Furthermore, incorporating new activities into the SH units required renovation and adaptations. These factors increase the risk of contamination, highlighting the importance of resilient built environments. Many of these have led to problems such as insufficient humidity, insolation and natural ventilation, which increase susceptibility to contamination. This context reinforces the importance of resilient built environments.