Feature documentary ‘Dispossession: The Great Social Housing Swindle’
‘Dispossession: The Great Social Housing Swindle’ is a feature documentary directed by Paul Sng and narrated by Maxine Peake and explores the agenda behind the neglect, demolition and regeneration of council estates in the U.K. over the past thirty years.
This film reveals how individuals and communities are fighting against the state and private developers, as they try to save their homes from demolition, while investigating the decisions that turned a crisis into a tragedy.
In 2017 housing rose to the top of the British political agenda for the first time in a generation. But despite the media spotlight, few stories examined the catastrophic long-term failures that resulted in a chronic shortage of social housing in the United Kingdom.
DISPOSSESSION focuses on the neglect, demolition and regeneration of council estate such as Cressingham Gardens in Lambeth, Aylesbury and Heygate in Southwark, and investigates how the state works with the private sector to demolish council estates to build on the land they stand on, making properties that are unaffordable to the majority of people in the UK.
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.
A panel discussion and Q&A will take place after the screening chaired by ‘Utopia London’ filmmaker Tom Cordell with trade unionist Simon Hannah, housing lawyer Jamie Burton, housing spokeswoman Clavia Chambers and Save Cressingham Gardens campaigner Tom Keene, renowned retired Lambeth Council architect Kate Macintosh.
Simon Hannah is a socialist, trade unionist with Lambeth UNISON, author of ‘A Party With Socialists in it’. He is currently working on Radical-Lambeth, the untold story of Lambeth in the 1980s.
Jamie Burton is a public interest lawyer who has worked on housing, homelessness and social welfare issues for many years. He has acted in many cases concerning the provision of support and/or accommodation to vulnerable groups in society and has a thorough understanding of both central and local government’s responsibilities in all areas of the welfare state.
Jamie is a member of the Housing Lawyers Practitioner’s Association and co-founder/Chair of Just Fair.
Film screening and panel discussion night next Friday 12 July at Effraspace, 21 Effra Parade, Brixton, London SW2 1PX.
Doors open 7.00pm for drinks and food, Film Screening 7.30pm. Admission open to ALL, non Labour Party members welcome.
Admission on the door by donation (£5 per person, suggested) and serving a range of tarts (vegetable & vegan)/salads/cakes (including some vegan)/snacks for sale. Plate £4. Cake £1.50.
A bar is open during the evening until 10:30pm with drinks allowed into screening.