Dispossession: The Great Social Housing Swindle

For some people, a housing crisis means not getting planning permission for a loft conversion. For others it means, quite simply, losing their home. Dispossession: The Great Social Housing Swindle is a feature documentary directed by Paul Sng (Sleaford Mods – Invisible Britain) and narrated by Maxine Peake, exploring the catastrophic failures that have led to a chronic shortage of social housing in the UK.

These failures include government policy that prevents local councils and housing associations from building homes for the 1.4 million people on council housing waiting lists and the quarter of a million homeless people in Britain. Or the deliberate neglect of council estates by local authorities that’s used to justify ‘regeneration’ projects with private developers, which often force those who cannot afford homes in the new properties to relocate to other parts of the country, far from their families and support networks.

With unprecedented access to residents, politicians and experts in the housing industry and media, Dispossession is the story of people fighting for their communities, of people who know the difference between a house and a home, and who believe that housing is a human right, not an expensive luxury.

On the 16th August Yellow Wednesdays will be showing this incredible documentary alongside a discussion with the Director from Velvet Joy Productions and Andy Reeve of Demo Dev.

Yellow Wednesdays
As the golden sunlight from a warm Brummie sunset glistens through the windows of Impact Hub Birmingham, members and guests alike close the lids of laptops and breathe a sigh of relief as another day of world changing activities comes to a close. Meanwhile, a laptop lid is opened, coffee is poured and seats are dragged into a seating arrangement fit for the kings, queens and all those in between, ready to consume another evening of spectacular film programming.

Yellow Wednesdays brings a mix of cinema, from the submissions of local Brummie individuals and companies, through to the more Cannes film festival less Odeon multiplex, captivating stories from all other the world. We aim to bring a rich and diverse programme of films to fill your year, and you can catch it all at Impact Hub Birmingham, every 3rd Wednesday of the month.

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