The BBC have an ongoing documentary series exploring issues faced by people across the country. One of their latest episodes, aired last night, is about our community and the fight to save our homes. BBC Producer Elliott and his team spent several months filming Cindy and John, Linda, Mavis and Barry, and other neighbours on our estate as they approached, and overstayed, eviction day.
It’s available to watch on BBC iPlayer now – please watch and share. The BBC team have done a wonderful job in showing our close-knit community and the stress the whole eviction process has created for residents (thank you Elliott!). There are also beautiful birds-eye shots of the estate and residents’ homes… this footage will be some of the last that captures our historic two streets before they are demolished.
A Place Called Home: Fighting for Our Homes – Leeds
Neighbours on a Leeds housing estate fight to keep their community together when faced with eviction from their privately rented homes, that have stood since the 1950s.
The residents’ battle highlights the strength of community in working-class neighbourhoods and speaks to issues of gentrification seen across the country. This film follows several residents on the estate in the weeks leading up to their eviction, as they desperately fight for more time and for their community to stay together.”
The housing campaign organisation Judicial Domicide have written a letter to Leeds City Council in support of Councillor Stewart Golton’s motion that: “The existing £4.9m within the Council House Growth Fund (CHGF) should be re-allocated to purchase and refurbish properties on the Wordsworth Drive and Sugar Hill in Oulton. (‘estate’)”
This move would be a way to save our beloved Oulton estate from demolition. Most importantly, it would keep a community of close-knit neighbours together with roofs over their heads – a basic human right.
Last week, a new round of eviction notices were issued to residents in the ‘amber’ houses, giving these families just two months to find a new home.
This week, residents whose eviction notice ended in December have been served with a claim form for possession by the court. This is not just a legal letter, it comes with punishing costs: £355.00 in court fees and £69.50 in legal costs… Residents are being ordered to pay for their own eviction! £424.50 is no small sum for low-income households. Pemberstone are pursuing every means they can to force families out of their homes.
But to go where?
Wordsworth Drive and Sugar Hill Close residents are stuck between a rock and a hard place, as options are limited and many other private landlords are refusing to rent to them.
Supply and cost crisis
Council house options remain a non-starter, as there are so few available and they have hundreds of bidders. Cindy and John recently shared that they were 693rd on a list for one house they bid for.
Two and three-bed rentals in the LS26 postcode are in critically short supply, too. A search on Rightmove for rental properties within a 3 mile radius of our Oulton estate brings up just 14 options. That’s nowhere near enough to house the dozens of families currently being forced out of our estate. Moreover, many of these rentals are not on bus routes that enable people to easily get to work or maintain care responsibilities for their wider families.
Screenshot of rental options on Rightmove, 20 January 2021.
In addition to supply issues, rental costs of these houses remain prohibitive. There are just 6 three-bed houses in that list of 14, and their rents start at £795 per month and go up to £1,100 per month – that’s at least a 65% increase on what families are paying in Wordsworth Drive and Sugar Hill Close. Even if some residents downsize from their three-bed to a two-bed, they’ll still be paying hundreds more than their current rates and will lose a significant amount of personal space. Such rent hikes are a scary prospect when we’re all at the cliff edge of a cost-of-living crisis in food and energy prices.
Discrimination
On top of all of that,even when a property is available in the right location at a manageable price, residents are being turned away by other private landlords.
Some won’t allow pets, forcing people into agonising decisions about what to do with dogs, cats and other furry companions who aren’t just members of the family, but have been vital emotional support during the pandemic.
Other landlords won’t even consider tenants who are being helped by the Council or are in receipt of housing benefits.
Discrimination against housing benefits claimants risks breaking the law. Two high profile cases in 2020 saw judges rule that refusal to let to someone because they receive housing benefits can be “indirectly discriminatory on the grounds of sex and disability contrary to sections 19 and 29 of the Equality Act 2010”. Yet it is still happening because landlords can cloak prejudice in affordability checks.
Neighbours in our Oulton estate have been told directly and indirectly that they are not being considered because landlords don’t believe they can afford the rents, or that landlords don’t want to deal with tenants in receipt of benefits or other Council support. Even when residents come with guarantors – i.e. family or friends who agree to be a back up for rent – they are still being turned down.
People on this estate have a long history of paying rent on time to Pemberstone and no record of rent arrears elsewhere. Yet this doesn’t seem to matter.
The brutal irony is that the longer this discrimination goes on, the longer tenants will be forced to overstay their eviction notices and breach their tenancy, rendering them ‘poor’ future tenants for future landlords. It’s a Catch-22 where our families have zero options.
Vicky Spratt – activist journalist from the i Newspaper – recently visited Wordsworth Drive and Sugar Hill Close to listen and help tell our story. We shared our fears with her, describing the impact that this eviction and gentrification process is having on our lives, health, and futures. Vicky and our neighbours also tell the wider story of tenant precarity and the unaffordability of private rentals in Leeds.
The final day of the notice period issued by Pemberstone four months ago.
The day that several residents, including Linda Elsworth and the Readman family, are being told to vacate their much-loved homes. Just a few weeks before Christmas.
Are they leaving?
Are they heckers! Well, they can’t – they have nowhere to go.
The absence of choice
Since receiving eviction notices a few months ago, anxiety is rife. Everyone is desperately awaiting a lifeline from Leeds City Council, but nothing is forthcoming. Meanwhile, Linda, Cindy, John, Hazell and others are also frantically searching for private rental options elsewhere in Oulton/Woodlesford/Rothwell, just in case of the worst. This is what Pemberstone wants, right? This is what tenants apparently should do in the housing marketplace, right? Landlords own houses and tenants must move on when landlords say so. Simple.
Only, it’s not that simple. A quick search on Rightmove shows that current rentals for an equivalent 3 bedroom property in the area are priced at £995 per calendar month. NINE HUNDRED AND NINETY FIVE GREAT BRITISH POUNDS. That’s double the cost of rent in the Oulton estate for a similar property.
More pertinently, £995 per month is over 80% of monthly income for someone on the minimum wage. It’s around 70% of monthly income for someone earning a Band 2 or Band 3 NHS salary (i.e. administrators, drivers, healthcare assistants, porters). It’s almost 70% of a monthly income for someone working as a teaching assistant in Yorkshire. A state pension doesn’t even cover it.
Imagine: 70-80% of your income going towards rent when the average price for petrol is £1.47 per litre, a monthly bus pass costs £60, and gas and electricity now cost £150 per month. That’s not even considering rising food prices. This is the reality that residents of Wordsworth Drive and Sugar Hill Close are faced with.
It’s not a choice to ignore the eviction notices. It is the absence of choice. They have nowhere else to go.
A stressful day
Linda will soon be 72 years old and has had to deal with this housing nightmare alongside increasing health issues. She has lived on Wordsworth Drive for six and a half years. Linda’s friends on the estate are as close as family – with regular visits, shopping trips together, shared birthday celebrations, pet feeding on holidays, and grocery shopping during the pandemic. Every year, Linda spends Christmas day with Hazell and her family – eating a Turkey dinner, pulling crackers, and exchanging gifts. Linda originally moved to the estate nearly seven years ago to be closer to Hazell, as they have been good friends for many years.
Left Photo: Hazell (L) and Linda (R) after a long day speaking with reporters about eviction day. Right Photo: Linda standing defiantly in her cherished home.
Linda should have moved out today. But Linda had no choice, nowhere to go. She has to stay and fight.
“Today has been extremely stressful, not knowing what Pemberstone would do“, Linda explained. “I’m expecting a letter from them and then I’ll no doubt be taken to court. I hardly slept last night. We’ve had TV interest all day, and I am completely emotionally exhausted”
From here on, Linda says she is going to be afraid of every knock on the door and letter dropping through the letterbox in case it’s a court notice, a fine… or worse.
The campaign must go on
TV crew from the BBC, Calendar, and Leeds Live have been in and around the estate all day trying to capture the anguish that residents are going through. Hazell hasn’t received her eviction notice yet, but is expecting it before Christmas. She spend the day with Linda, supporting her and speaking to reporters.
“Today has been hard“, said Hazell. “I’m trying to make sure my friends and neighbours aren’t stressed too much as anxiety levels are through the roof at the minute. I’ve seen many TV crew people here today, and this attention to our cause is so important. It has been a really tiring day, but the campaign must go on“.
Hanging On is a powerful documentary about Pemberstone’s plans to demolish our homes and destroy our community. This moving 10-minute short depicts residents hanging in the air, literally clinging to their homes, hoping to prevent eviction and demolition. Hanging On has already garnered a lot of international attention and recognition, winning awards and being selected for prestigious film festivals.
We spoke to Director Alfie Barker about his experiences making the film and helping to keep our campaign in the spotlight.
Documentaries can sometimes be made by an individual, but ours was made with an incredible crew in collaboration with a community – who it wouldn’t have been possible without ~Alfie Barker, Director.
~Why did you choose our community’s story over everything else that’s happening in the world?
AB: ‘Hanging On’ holds an urgent message that speaks to experiences that so many people around the world are going through – it’s shocking. I found the story by chance on the Yorkshire Evening Post and followed it over the course of a few months, trying to think of the best way to make a film.
This community is from Leeds, which is where I’m from, and they have lived in Oulton almost all their lives. They’re slowly being evicted at a time when everyone needs their homes the most and I found it heartbreaking. People around me didn’t know about it and I wanted to try change that. I’ve seen lots of interviews about coal-mining towns and villages but I wanted to make something that represented what these places and these communities look like today, not something from an archive.
Alfie and the team hoist residents up on a crane to show that they are, quite literally, hanging on to their homes by their fingernails. Photo credit: Anastasia Arsentyeva
~What was your inspiration behind the style and direction?
AB: We had the intention to make something cinematic that stood out from all the Covid-19 news everyone was hearing. Our central concern was: what visual would capture attention? I wanted the audience to get the same feeling I got when I learnt about their plight, and I wanted do this in as few words as possible.
During the time of the production, I had my own issues with where I was living in my flat, to the point where I literally stopped paying rent as nothing was being sorted by the landlord. I just kept thinking, how can this government ask us to stay at home during the pandemic, when where I’m living is uninhabitable? It really angers me.
It’s been a privilege listening to everyone’s stories within this community – yet it amazes me that Pemberstone, who owns the land and the houses, hasn’t even bothered to meet the residents in person. There seems to be a lack of landlord accountability and security that affects the lives of people in rented accommodation across the whole country.
Photos: Anastasia Arsentyeva
~How have you felt about the film’s growing profile and audience reactions?
AB: The original intention was to make a film for the people of Leeds, to draw their attention to what was happening. Then, being selected for TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) changed everything, as it brought the film, and the community’s story, to a global audience. It shows how the film is resonating with audiences everywhere, and it’s been overwhelming.
~What longer-term impact would you like the film to have in the future?
AB: The best thing that could come from the film and this growing international attention is that it contributes to a resolution where the community can stay together in Oulton in their homes.
There have been a lot of negative things happening in the world recently and attention is easily directed elsewhere, but this story is still on-going outside of our film. I said before screening the final film to the residents that, regardless of what happens, this film captures a moment in time when people came together to fight for what was right – and that in itself – is a beautiful thing.
Huge thanks from SaveOurHomesLS26 to Alfie Barker and the filming team for capturing our plight so powerfully.
You can stream Hanging On for free until the 17 October. Visit the BFI London Film Festival website.
Hanging On has been selected for a number of prestigious film festivals:
World Premiere at Sheffield Doc Fest, one of the top three documentary film festivals in the world, in June 2021.
In January 1989 the Rothwell Advertiser carried a story: “Tenants move out of Oulton Estate“.
Just a few years earlier, the estate had been bought by private company Renshaw & Sons Ltd from the National Coal Board, but the new owners invested little in the maintenance of the houses. Broken glass, rotting wood, and ‘mountains of rubbish’ were reportedly left to fester visibly in streets where children played and families tended their gardens.
‘[T]henew owners are just waiting for everyone to get fed up and leave so they can knock the whole lot down and rebuild’, said Mr Allott to journalist Kim Clayton. At the time the article was written, only 96 of the original 210 houses were occupied and visible dereliction was forcing more to consider leaving.
In what feels like a re-run of this Thatcher-era tactic, current residents of Wordsworth Drive and Sugar Hill Close have, this week, witnessed the boarding up of neighbouring houses on the estate.
No-one looks at boarded houses and thinks: community, safety, welcome, and warmth (words that have long-described our Oulton community). Instead, boarded-up houses are a kind of urban visual code for poverty, neglect, danger, unwelcome.
These visual statements are often not facts about an area, they are performativeacts designed to meet certain ends. In 2021 the ends are the same as in 1989: to get the residents out. Oulton families are being made to feel unwelcome, to feel neglect, and even danger. It is the very opposite of gentrification in order to enable gentrification (how very 2021).
Carrot and Stick
We should have predicted that the “carrots” some residents recently received in the post (i.e. the legal letters offeringdiscretionary house-moving assistance) would be accompanied by some kind of stick.
I use the term “carrot” loosely here, of course (imagine one of those shrivelled, furry ones at the bottom of your fridge) because the cash “assistance” to move out is subject to a tight timeframe and limited conditions. Not everyone will be eligible and the money is hardly worth it with today’s current rental rates.
Pemberstone have also recently deployed “carrot 2.0” for residents who haven’t yet been given an eviction notice. Several families in Pemberstone’s “Amber” designated houses received letters last week stating that seemed to say they, too, might get some money to move if they get out before February, and this isn’t yet an eviction notice, but funds are limited and discretionary. In other words, a pre-eviction notice notice; get the funds now while (if) you can. Yummy carrot indeed.
While the ultimate “stick” of eviction is being held at bay as residents refuse to heed these notices, it seems that Pemberstone have turned to the 1980s for inspiration about how to force people out of their homes anyway. It’s not broken glass and rotten wood; this time it’s cheap MDF wood over windows and doors. Without a hint of irony, this investment company has rapidly boarded up vacant houses, when undertaking essential repairs on occupied homes seem to take years.
It’s funny how a Government Inspector gives planning permission with strict conditions that a community forum must be created to consult with, and inform, our neighbours about things like eviction notices or the boarding-up of vacant properties – and this condition can be ignored without any consequences. (Where are Leeds City Council on this?)
It’s also funny how we’re in the midst of an affordable housing crisis, and a landlord is boarding up empty homes it refuses to refurbish or rebuild for low-income families.
None of this is actually funny, of course. It’s deeply, deeply distressing for residents on our Oulton estate – neighbours who are faced with a Christmas fighting in the courts for the right to stay in their home, a Christmas surrounded by boarded-up houses and fewer neighbours to exchange gifts and food with.
Limited options
In this deadlock, everything feels completely out of our control. Leeds City Council recently voted down a motion put forward by Cllr Stewart Golton calling on the council to buy the estate – leaving residents in a limbo, wondering what’s going to happen next.
Negotiations to keep the community in their homes may well be happening behind the scenes, but residents always seem to be the last to know – creating a sense of powerlessness as time races towards eviction and demolition.
Pemberstone won’t stop their march towards redevelopment, so what we need is Leeds City Council to step up and halt the demolition-by-neglect tactics while alternative solutions are still being negotiated. Leeds City Council need to force Pemberstone to honour the condition of creating a community forum so residents’ voices can be heard. We also need Leeds City Council – made up of our elected representatives – to inform everyone what’s going on behind the scenes so we can stop living in daily fear of what comes next.
Today, neighbouring houses were boarded over. Tomorrow, who knows…?
Pemberstone have issued eviction notices to several families on the estate. The Readman family is one of them. They have lived on Wordsworth Drive with their children for 16 years and have deep ties with the community and local area. Cindy and John Readman have been some of the loudest voices on the Save Our Homes LS26 campaign, trying to prevent the demolition of the estate – is it a coincidence that their home is one of the “red houses”, apparently structurally deficient and slated for early demolition? Perhaps. Perhaps not. What is clear is that the Readman family, and the whole estate, have been left devastated by Pemberstone’s latest move.
Cindy Readman shares her family’s experience of receiving the eviction notice, and their fears for the future.
We were away on holiday when the eviction notices arrived and I only heard about it when I messaged our neighbour and good friend, Mavis, to ask about our cats. Mavis was looking after them for us, and we wanted to check in. When Mavis shared the devastating news, we were pretty sure we would have received a notice, but tried not to think about it until we got home because family time is so precious and we’re all so fearful of what’s to come. We have lived here for 16 years and love our home. Our family has grown up here, with our youngest being just 3 years old when we moved in.
Many a Christmas, Halloween, and birthday have been celebrated in the Readman family’s beloved home
Fears for the future
When we got back from holiday, it was like a kick in the guts to read the letter. It wasn’t unexpected but it arrived much sooner than anticipated – we thought they had to have a tenants’ forum and other consultations up and running before anything happened. We also knew that they couldn’t commence with any works between March and September due to nesting birds. Yet, here we are, with a notice to get out by 1st December – just a few weeks before Christmas.
We’re so scared that we’ll have nowhere to go; there are no 3 bed private rents in this area and even 2 beds are out of our price range. Although our oldest son is at university, we need somewhere he can come back to, so we need 3 bedrooms. He needs somewhere to still call home. Is it really too much to ask?
We now have just under four months until eviction. Four months seems like a long time, but it will go in the blink of an eye. How can Pemberstone be happy to uproot the lives of whole families like this? It can take many many weeks to organise a new private rental with credit checks and references – and that’s presuming we can even find and qualify for one.
Mental health impacts
These last few years of fighting have really taken a toll on our family’s mental health and stress levels, and the eviction notice has made it all so much worse. Our youngest son has suffered with anxiety in the past when at high school, and there’s the fear that all this upheaval will be detrimental to his mental health. All this after 18 months of pandemic hell, too.
It has put us in a nightmare position in other ways, too. We’re now very anxious about reporting any repairs, as we believe Pemberstone will link them to the apparent faults they say are there and make us leave sooner.
Keeping family together and staying local
We recently welcomed a granddaughter into our family and hoped that she too could grow up being able to visit Grandma and Grandad in this home and play in the garden just like her mummy did. Our daughter lives nearby, and we can’t face the thought of being forced to move far away.
Cindy with her gorgeous granddaughter – the latest addition to the family.
I also work locally at a primary school, and need to remain local to keep supporting the wonderful children there, who I’ve grown to know so well. Many of the children that attend the school live on our estate, and I can see the daily effects this eviction threat is having on them, too.
John used to work in the mines, and now works in Leeds. And our son Sam is actively looking for local work to stay close to friends and family. To move away from this area would cause stress and anxiety for us all, increased travel time, and much longer days due to increased travel.
We love our home! It means everything to us, and this community has helped us so many times over the years. Family life has its ups and downs, as I’m sure everyone can relate to. But we’ve had an especially difficult 4 years, as we have had to cope with family heartache and health issues, as well as fighting to save our home – and, of course, the pandemic. During the last 18 months in particular, our home has been our sanctuary and my mental health was helped greatly by being able to spend time doing my garden during lockdown.
“Our home and garden are our sanctuary during difficult times” – Cindy Readman
If we were booted out of our home and put in temporary accommodation – where would this be? What would it be like? Would we all have to share a room with no kitchen, no living area and no privacy? You hear so many horror stories.
Refuse to accept social cleansing
Well, we’ve decided we’re not going to take this lying down.
We will not be leaving on 1st December, even if this means we will lose Pemberstone’s “30 pieces of silver” to get out and shut up. They can take us to court, and I can then prove that their claims of deterioration in our home are false.
The social injustice of all this is what angers us the most. This is social cleansing! There were many alternative plans Pemberstone could have followed, but they chose money over people’s lives, over families, every time.
I’m angry at how this is affecting the lives of so many people especially the elderly on the estate – I have cried many times with some of y neighbours, listening to their stories of living here. This eviction and demolition plan is ripping the heart out of this community, and Pemberstone don’t care.
How you can help
We’re so grateful to everyone who has supported us along the way, it has really meant a lot. If you want to keep helping us fight to save our homes, you can:
Pemberstone has issued the first round of eviction notices to neighbours in our estate. Seventy-one year old Linda Elsworth and the Readman family were among those to receive an order to leave.
Linda Elsworth in her Wordsworth Drive home
Cindy and John Readman, who live on Wordsworth Drive with their children
In echoes of November 2017 – when residents found out about development plans via an impersonal leaflet – this life-changing news came in the form of a letter pushed through their letter boxes. The letter was from the managing agent, Watsons, on behalf of Pemberstone, who – even after all these years – still refuse to engage with us directly.
Regretfully?
“Dear Mrs Elsworth”, Linda’s letter begins, offering a polite and benign opening to correspondence that was anything but. “Regretfully, we are writing to inform you”, it continues: that your property is “deteriorating”, and even though there “is no evidence of immediate danger of structural failure” … “the Landlord has now made a decision to bring the tenancy of your property to an end”. This letter is “giving you 4 months’ notice that your tenancy will end on 01st December 2021”.
“Regretfully” is an interesting choice of word here, as it means a feeling of sadness, repentance or disappointment. If Pemberstone has felt this at all over the last few years, eviction and demolition are funny ways to show it. If they “regret” that the conditions of the houses have deteriorated, why have they not adequately maintained them for decades? Why not undertake refurbishment now, and prevent them from deteriorating further? Perhaps Pemberstone “regret” that they are evicting a pensioner whose closest friends are her neighbours? To solve this emotional wrangle I recommend: don’t do it. Don’t force the community out. Work with the residents and Leeds City Council to refurbish these historic and well-loved homes. It’s a clear way to prevent feelings of sadness and repentance. And the best bit yet: this advice comes free! Lord knows how much Watsons, the lawyers, and Blue Marble have already cost Pemberstone to defend the indefensible.
Ex gratia
Another curious word in this eviction notice is “ex gratia”. Pemberstone is apparently offering an “ex gratia” financial incentive to sweeten the eviction (well, to those who meet certain conditions – more on that in a moment). Know what that word means? Nope, I didn’t either. Luckily google is on hand to translate the language of the upper classes…
Ahhh, I see.
To incentivise a quick and quiet move, Pemberstone are offering a small pot of money to assist with relocation costs – like a rent deposit or an advance on rental fees. This money is “ex gratia”, which means it is, apparently, a favour.
Well, a “favour” of sorts.
Firstly, it is not a “favour” freely given. Residents have to apply for the “goodwill” payment, and might be denied it if they have not “complied with the terms of their tenancy”, and if they are not up to date in rent. “Complied with the terms of tenancy” sounds benign enough but – as anyone who has ever tried to get their own deposit back from a private landlord will know – the smallest scuff (or even a fictional stain) can forfeit you from the most basic of entitlements.
Secondly, it’s a “favour” with boundaries. Departing residents are not to be trusted with the money, oh no. According to the letter, “if part of the payment is intended to be used as a rent deposit… the Landlord will arrange for this amount to be paid directly to your new landlord or their agent”. Like previousgovernmentpolicies on housing benefits, perhaps Pemberstone prefer to give directly to another landlord because they are worried about what low-income people might do with their own money. Perhaps Pemberstone want to emphasise that this payment is literally only for future rent, and is not some form of compensation for destroying lives and a community (ex gratia also means free from legal obligation or liability, after all).
Whatever the case, it’s a hollow offer that might actually put residents in a worse situation than they’re currently in.
If Linda, Cindy and John accept this measly assistance, they’ll not only be pulled away from this close-knit community of friends and neighbours, they also risk undermining possibilities for individual and collective help from Leeds City Council. At the very least, taking Pemberstone’s help to move elsewhere would negate a family’s priority status for Leeds City Council help. Also, family-size rented houses are like gold dust in the area, and have prices to match. Pemberstone’s “gift” of a few months’ rent will quickly be negated after families start paying market rate rents themselves (often 50% more costly than their current affordable tenancies). Rock and hard place spring to mind.
Intervention needed
It’s hard to know what to do next. Pemberstone have made it clear in statements to the media that they will be moving forward with eviction notices across the wider estate in the “near future”. Cindy, John, Linda, and the whole community have reached out again to Leeds City Council, pleading for help.
In the face of this devastating letter, the threat of evictions ruining yet another Christmas, and the measly “favour” being offered to expedite our exit, there’s only one thing left to say (in a language they apparently understand):
— Watch recent ITV Calendar News coverage of Linda and Cindy talking about their shock at receiving the eviction letter: “We need a miracle”.
Hanging On – a documentary made by CosmoSquare Films about the fight to save our homes – was launched for it’s world premiere at Sheffield Doc Fest on 13 June 2021. Very exciting!
Running since 1994, Sheffield Doc Fest festival is about inspiring special change as well as pushing boundaries in documentary film making. It’s is one of the top three documentary film festivals in the world, and the best in Britain – so Hanging On’s selection for the event was a huge moment for the film’s creators, Hollie Barker (producer) and Alfie Barker (director). And of course it was a HUGE moment for us, as our campaign hit the international stage. It was fantastic to see the hard work and creativity of everyone on the “big screen”, and we felt so privileged to have another chance to tell our story.
If you haven’t seen the trailer already, check out the Sheff Doc Fest website of CosmoSquare Films. It’s a beautiful and emotional short film that really captures our fears and anxieties about the impending demolition of our beloved homes.
CosmoSquare Film Poster, 2021
“Set in Oulton, Leeds, a former coal-mining community in which over 60 houses still stand, Hanging On spotlights the strength of a neighborhood that unites when faced with eviction. Originally made as temporary council housing, these homes were later sold onto private investors. Now, demolition is being threatened, an act which would result in the displacement of a large number of residents, some of whom have lived here all of their lives. Featuring a combination of audio interviews and artistically-lensed visual materials, Hanging On uncovers the stories of a close community of residents in the area, hearing their nostalgic memories of the place, and the stress caused by the uncertain fate of their ongoing campaign to save their homes. Hanging On reminds us about the struggles of people slipping through the cracks of society and explores what it means to have a home”.
Huge thanks again to Hollie and Alfie for making this happen. And congratulations on the selection for Sheffield Doc Fest! Being a part of this project has kept our spirits up during a challenging time and we hope it continues to gain momentum as a brilliant piece of campaign creativity!
#SaveOurHomesLS26 