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Housing affordability is at an all-time low. A growing percentage of working and middle class people are being pushed out of their homes and rental units and into poverty and homelessness. A recent documentary, Push, explores the housing crisis and profiles one changemaker working hard to push back against the tide and to encourage the recognition of housing as a human right.
[For our Push Movie Review, please click here]
On today’s episode, we speak with Leilani Farha, United Nations special rapporteur on adequate housing and the main subject of the documentary, that had its North American premiere at Hot Docs in Toronto. In our conversation Farha explains how it’s not gentrification at issue here. Rather financial players like private equity and asset management firms are commodifying housing, their efforts often supported by pension funds. We also talk about a project she launched, The Shift, which is bringing together stakeholders from around the world in a bid to stem the momentum of these financial players and ultimately recognize housing as a human right for all.
Listen to her story here