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| Housing crisis, what crisis? Let’s expose those profiting from others’ misery Housing crisis, what crisis? Let’s expose those profiting from others’ misery | |
| (1 day later) | |
| Having been homeless, I hate the term housing crisis. Like the refugee crisis and the financial crisis, such a term seems to absolve responsibility from those who created the problem. It suddenly becomes abstracted from the people who caused it and refers only to the effect. There are thousands of people and corporations making huge amounts of money from the housing crisis exactly the way it is – yet we’re constantly hearing, “We’re in a housing crisis.” So don’t you think it’s time we renamed all these crises we’re in? Who’s responsible for the refugee crisis? We’ll name it after them. Who’s responsible for the financial crisis? Let’s name it after them. Who’s responsible for the housing crisis? I want a term that will start to hold bad policy, politicians, bankers, estate agents, rogue landlords, local governments and developers accountable for the crisis they have created. | Having been homeless, I hate the term housing crisis. Like the refugee crisis and the financial crisis, such a term seems to absolve responsibility from those who created the problem. It suddenly becomes abstracted from the people who caused it and refers only to the effect. There are thousands of people and corporations making huge amounts of money from the housing crisis exactly the way it is – yet we’re constantly hearing, “We’re in a housing crisis.” So don’t you think it’s time we renamed all these crises we’re in? Who’s responsible for the refugee crisis? We’ll name it after them. Who’s responsible for the financial crisis? Let’s name it after them. Who’s responsible for the housing crisis? I want a term that will start to hold bad policy, politicians, bankers, estate agents, rogue landlords, local governments and developers accountable for the crisis they have created. |
| Before I had a chance to think about it properly, sat between the beige, stuffy walls of our hostel with my family, I had skim-read newspaper headlines repeatedly talking about housing being at crisis point – but I’d never really connected with what that meant. It seemed so far away – something that just existed, was bad and part and parcel of our society. Even when we were in the hostel we didn’t really know who to blame, other than those on the end of the phone at the council offices or writing unsympathetic letters about our housing options. That much is clear from the documentary I made about my family while we were homeless, Half Way. | Before I had a chance to think about it properly, sat between the beige, stuffy walls of our hostel with my family, I had skim-read newspaper headlines repeatedly talking about housing being at crisis point – but I’d never really connected with what that meant. It seemed so far away – something that just existed, was bad and part and parcel of our society. Even when we were in the hostel we didn’t really know who to blame, other than those on the end of the phone at the council offices or writing unsympathetic letters about our housing options. That much is clear from the documentary I made about my family while we were homeless, Half Way. |
| The documentary is at times funny and at others heart-rending, but really it’s just a portrait of a loving family waiting for a home to call their own. Filmed in our hostel, it’s the personal, day-to-day experiences that inevitably become political when shown to an audience. It shows a mother with two children who through no fault of her own can no longer afford a place to live. While making it we weren’t thinking about the politics, we were focused on keeping sane. | The documentary is at times funny and at others heart-rending, but really it’s just a portrait of a loving family waiting for a home to call their own. Filmed in our hostel, it’s the personal, day-to-day experiences that inevitably become political when shown to an audience. It shows a mother with two children who through no fault of her own can no longer afford a place to live. While making it we weren’t thinking about the politics, we were focused on keeping sane. |
| Having lived in a home we privately rented for 13 years, while at the same time being on the council house list, we exhausted every option after we were evicted. Prices in our area had become completely unaffordable. The film calls into question things such as affordability in the rental sector, and the effect that is having on an increasing number of people. It highlights archaic systems of bureaucracy that are not fit for coping with the huge number of people currently facing homelessness. And also by the very nature of our story’s “happy ending”, when we were rehoused, it emphasises the importance of council housing as a safety net for so many people. This is steadily being removed through things such as right-to- buy, regeneration schemes and the introduction of “affordable housing” – which in some cases is 80% of the market rate. | Having lived in a home we privately rented for 13 years, while at the same time being on the council house list, we exhausted every option after we were evicted. Prices in our area had become completely unaffordable. The film calls into question things such as affordability in the rental sector, and the effect that is having on an increasing number of people. It highlights archaic systems of bureaucracy that are not fit for coping with the huge number of people currently facing homelessness. And also by the very nature of our story’s “happy ending”, when we were rehoused, it emphasises the importance of council housing as a safety net for so many people. This is steadily being removed through things such as right-to- buy, regeneration schemes and the introduction of “affordable housing” – which in some cases is 80% of the market rate. |
| There wasn’t the energy to think who to blame while we were living in the hostel. We were exhausted, with self-esteem too low to try to think about all that. My mum blamed herself because she felt it was her job to keep a roof over our head, which of course in the current climate can be near-impossible. | There wasn’t the energy to think who to blame while we were living in the hostel. We were exhausted, with self-esteem too low to try to think about all that. My mum blamed herself because she felt it was her job to keep a roof over our head, which of course in the current climate can be near-impossible. |
| After we were re-housed, I became extremely interested in what was happening in the UK. Why could I see so many people facing their own housing difficulties while I saw affordable housing sites grind to a standstill in my local area and skylines across London and other major cities filled with cranes and shiny new buildings? It became incredibly clear what the housing crisis meant after all: profit, profit, profit for the few, and struggle or homelessness for everyone else. | After we were re-housed, I became extremely interested in what was happening in the UK. Why could I see so many people facing their own housing difficulties while I saw affordable housing sites grind to a standstill in my local area and skylines across London and other major cities filled with cranes and shiny new buildings? It became incredibly clear what the housing crisis meant after all: profit, profit, profit for the few, and struggle or homelessness for everyone else. |
| To think Half Way may have an influence on policy is hugely encouraging | To think Half Way may have an influence on policy is hugely encouraging |
| Half Way was the first film to be used as evidence by the communities and local government select committee, when it looked into preventing homelessness. The first-hand accounts presented had such an impact that following the publication of the committee’s report, committee member Bob Blackman proposed a private member’s bill to pick up on the findings of the inquiry. I’m not holding my breath on the outcome, but to think Half Way may have an influence on policy is hugely encouraging. I hope the film can connect central government and local councils to the human faces behind the statistics they deal with every day. | Half Way was the first film to be used as evidence by the communities and local government select committee, when it looked into preventing homelessness. The first-hand accounts presented had such an impact that following the publication of the committee’s report, committee member Bob Blackman proposed a private member’s bill to pick up on the findings of the inquiry. I’m not holding my breath on the outcome, but to think Half Way may have an influence on policy is hugely encouraging. I hope the film can connect central government and local councils to the human faces behind the statistics they deal with every day. |
| More than 250,000 people are homeless in the UK, according to Shelter. That’s unacceptable. The only thing that will change that is political will – and political will only shifts when there is public pressure. The documentary focuses on the very personal effect of losing your home, and what this does to our experiences of “normality”, security and stability. I hope Half Way provides an account that can help those who have never experienced homelessness to look outside of their own situation with compassion and anger, and for those who have, to take away the shame so they can share their stories and experiences. Because together we are stronger. | More than 250,000 people are homeless in the UK, according to Shelter. That’s unacceptable. The only thing that will change that is political will – and political will only shifts when there is public pressure. The documentary focuses on the very personal effect of losing your home, and what this does to our experiences of “normality”, security and stability. I hope Half Way provides an account that can help those who have never experienced homelessness to look outside of their own situation with compassion and anger, and for those who have, to take away the shame so they can share their stories and experiences. Because together we are stronger. |
| Ultimately, we need many thousands of homes – affordable and council. We need to make the rental market affordable again, and we need to change policy so that it stops benefiting those that have multiple houses and punishing those that have nowhere to call their home. If the government can afford to renovate Buckingham Palace, do up the Houses of Parliament or support the Garden Bridge project in London, all to make Britain look like one of the greatest places in the world, don’t we have a duty to make sure everyone in the country has a decent home? Wouldn’t that be something to be truly proud of? | Ultimately, we need many thousands of homes – affordable and council. We need to make the rental market affordable again, and we need to change policy so that it stops benefiting those that have multiple houses and punishing those that have nowhere to call their home. If the government can afford to renovate Buckingham Palace, do up the Houses of Parliament or support the Garden Bridge project in London, all to make Britain look like one of the greatest places in the world, don’t we have a duty to make sure everyone in the country has a decent home? Wouldn’t that be something to be truly proud of? |
| • Half Way is showing in select cinemas now | • Half Way is showing in select cinemas now |