Cities are becoming increasingly unliveable for most people. Costs are rising but incomes are not. Sky-high rents, evictions, homelessness, and substandard housing are common realities for urban dwellers across the planet. There is a global housing crisis. How did this basic human right get so lost? Who is pushing people out of their homes and cities, and what’s being done to pushback? On the heels of the release of the award-winning documentary, PUSH, filmmaker, Fredrik Gertten and Leilani Farha, the former UN Special Rapporteur on the right to housing, have reconvened. Join the filmmaker and the advocate as they reflect on their experiences making PUSH and exchange ideas and stories about the film's central issue: the financialization of housing and its fall-out. For more about PUSH and to view it: www.pushthefilm.com For more about Fredrik Gertten and his other films: www.wgfilm.comFor more about Leilani Farha in her new role, Global Director of The Shift: www.make-the-shift.org
https://www.wgfilm.com/
episode 21: Berlin’s Housing Activists Changing the Rules, a chat with Florian Schmidt
Berlin - known for its hip vibe and affordable rents - has become one of the most sought after places to live amongst young urbanites and creatives. Those affordable rents, however, have also drawn institutional investors and asset management firms like Blackstone and Heimstaden, who are buying up mass amounts of affordable apartments with a view to reaping huge profits by increasing rents. But Berlin’s tenants are having nothing of it. The Filmmaker and The Advocate talk with City Councillor, Florian Schmidt, one of the characters in PUSH-The film about the vibrant and effective tenants' movement. Not only have they taken to the streets in protest, they’ve managed to make major changes – from pushing Mayor Muller to buy-back affordable housing that had been sold-off to investors, to successfully advocating for stronger renter protections such as 5 year rent freezes, and legislating the lowering of rents. Unprecedented. All advocates’ eyes should be on Berlin and ears tuned to PUSHBACK Talks!
Produced by WG Film
Recorded & Edited by Mikey Jones
Music by Florencia Di Concilio
Social Media & Support Team - Louise Gustafsson, Maja Moberg & Melinda Bergstrand