By Annie McAneny
Thriving Communities Intern
Filmmakers across the country are bringing life into discussions of housing policy and practice through poignant documentaries. In celebration of Fair Housing Month, we have assembled a list of some of our favorite documentaries (and a great podcast!) that provide information about national policy and also highlight the personal impacts of housing patterns and policy. We have provided a brief summary of the content of each film, so you can decide which topics you want to dive into. If you’re interested in hosting a screening event so you can bring this information and conversation into your community, we have also assembled a list of full-length documentaries that have public screening options.
Want to learn more about:
A quick summary U.S. Housing Segregation and its impacts?
Only have time for a six-minute overview? We recommend NPR’s Housing Segregation in Everything, a special made in 2018 about how past housing segregation still fuels disparities in income, health, wealth, policing, and education.
The history of discrimination in US housing policy?
Check out A Matter of Place. This 27-minute documentary outlines the history of residential discrimination and segregation, the development of fair housing laws, and the patterns of discrimination that continue today. Using the stories of three people experiencing discrimination based on race, sexual orientation, source of income, and disability, this film draws connections between an unaddressed national history of bias and current housing insecurity and injustice.
The affordability crisis in New York City?
One part of an eight-part documentary series, Vice’s A House Divided investigates the relationships between a national history of racial discrimination, housing speculation, and the affordability crisis. This 45-minute video pulls from all perspectives – renters, realtors, homeless people, officials, and activists – to uncover the flaws in a market-based system for providing basic human needs.
The history and complexity of gentrification?
Understanding and communicating the impacts of new investment on an old community can be extremely difficult. Priced Out does an excellent job of asking the right questions to explain how neighborhoods, towns, and cities navigate new investment when they have been historically neglected or underinvested. This full-length documentary is available for free with a library card, and can also be purchased for a community screening.
Only have free time during your commute? There is also a Priced Out Podcast that hosts residents, activists, and experts to discuss housing across the country.
The role of “arts districts” in gentrification?
Check out Right to Wynwood, a 21-minute film about subtle gentrification of Wynwood, Miami and the power of an “arts district” to drive gentrification and expulsion of long-term residents and communities of color.
One young person’s experience of gentrification?
Policy discussions often revolve around the testimony of long-term officials and advocates, leaving marginalized people – including young people – out of the conversation. For a perspective on how gentrification impacts individual people in a community, we suggest you watch Evolution of the Hill, an eight-minute documentary made by a young filmmaker in Brooklyn. Samori Amir-Toure interviews local community members in Clinton Hill and uncovers some of the societal, cultural, and personal impacts of the subtle but significant changes to the neighborhood.
Interested in bringing these conversations to your community?
Consider hosting your own local screening of one of these films!
A Matter of Place — a free documentary about housing discrimination, past and present, that also comes with a free promotion kit
Owned: A Tale of Two Americas — a documentary discussing racist history of US Housing policy
Priced Out — a documentary discussing the causes and impacts of gentrification in Portland, Oregon.
Is there a film we missed? Please let us know if there are other films you believe should be added to this list! We would love to be able to include films about local stories as well as national productions. Feel free to contact Annie McAneny at amcaneny@uvm.edu if you would like to suggest additions.
Fair Housing Month is celebrated each April to recognize the federal Fair Housing Act, which passed into law in April of 1968 and prohibits discrimination concerning the sale, rental, and financing of housing based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex, disability, and family status. Vermont has additional protections against discrimination on the basis of age, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, and receipt of public assistance, as well as a protection against denial of development permitting based on the income of prospective residents. For more information about fair housing in Vermont, visit www.cvoeo.org/FHP