A documentary on the commercialisation of social housing
A documentary on the commercialisation of social housing
Platform Films and the Social Housing Action Campaign (SHAC) are collaborating on a documentary highlighting the commercialisation of housing associations, their lack of accountability, and the harm they are causing to tenants and residents. It will encourage resistance from tenants and workers, and outline the strategies that can be developed.
The total cost of the film will be £12,950 and any contribution you are able to make toward this film will be gratefully received. All donors will be credited in the final film.
You can donate via PayPal here:
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You can watch the film’s TRAILER here:
The sheer scale of the housing crisis makes housing a working class and trade union issue. Few members will remain unaffected by it.
Housing associations (HAs) are often absent from the discourse on the problem, or are presented positively as part of the solution.
Public perception is that HAs remain true to their founding principles of providing good quality housing at rent levels considerably below prevailing costs, and therefore accessible to the majority of working class people.
The reality is starkly different. Increasingly, associations are obsessively focussed on profit generation, developing properties for market rent and sale, and expansion of their power through mergers and acquisitions. Government policy, regulatory institutions and finance houses all support this line of travel. Board members are selected from construction, finance, and banking. They demonstrate little empathy with, or concern for, their organisation’s end users.
The provision of quality social housing, housing support, and homelessness prevention is being abandoned. Tenants and residents are commodities to be traded. Staff are a corporate resource to be exploited. None are living, breathing human beings whose lives can be devastated when their employer or landlord mistreats them.