More Than a Roof,  a documentary chronicling the first United States visit of UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing, is free and available online so that groups can take full advantage of it.  If you prefer a DVD, visit here for ordering information.

Raquel Rolnik, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing, made her first official mission to the United States in 2009.  The  grassroots film highlights the testimonies of individuals directly impacted by the severe housing and economic crises we are facing in cities and towns across the country.  In particular, it both elevates the commonality of these struggles as well as the grassroots communities fighting for a better alternative. Co-producer, the Campaign to Restore National Housing Rights (CRNHR), organized a multi-city national “launch” of More Than a Roof throughout the month of October in solidarity with World Habitat Days/World Zero Evictions Days 2011.

CRNHR, and co-producers the National Economic and Social Rights Initiative (NESRI) and Housing is a Human Right, have also developed materials and a number of Special Feature videos to help you begin dialogues about the relationship between human rights and organizing in your community.  Read more about the power of More Than a Roof to jumpstart a workshop, check out the Special Features, download the Conversation-Starter Guide, and get started!

Other video tools now available online free…

 

Coming Home: The Dry Storm

Coming Home: The Dry Storm is a moving film that takes an intimate look at one community's battle against the government's attack on public housing.  Co-produced by Mayday New Orleans, NESRI, and Rada Film Group, Coming Home, in 2010, won the Jury Prize for Best Film in its home city at the PATOIS New Orleans Human Rights Film Festival, screened at the Annual Legislative Conference of the Congressional Black Caucus, and was used across the country by housing organizers to initiate conversations on privatization, human rights, and the importance of public housing across the United States.

We are now making Coming Home free and available online so that groups can take full advantage of it.  If you prefer a DVD, visit http://cominghomethedrystorm.org/host-a-screening for ordering information. 

 

A Clear View of Public Housing

A Clear View is a short animated story made with the help of Gilda “Dr. Pop” Haas, a Professor of Urban Planning at UCLA, in partnership with the Campaign to Restore National Housing Rights (CRNHR).  It features three women who find themselves discussing their beliefs about housing, particularly public housing and, in so doing, illuminate faulty assumptions of prevailing perspectives and policies. 

A Clear View is available in both a streaming and an interactive video format in both English and Spanish, and will also soon be available as a bilingual comic book.  Find it all free on the CRNHR blog. 

Looking for some workshop ideas? Check out the Clear View Conversation-Starter Guide.

 

*          *          *

If you decide to host a screening or organize a workshop using any of these tools, we’d love to hear about it (and see pictures and videos too!); direct all exciting news and questions to .

*          *          *

 

What People Are Saying About More Than a Roof:

 

“More Than a Roof is powerful, timely and inspiring.  A must-see for activists and others concerned about the nation’s housing crisis.” – Michael Kane, National Alliance of HUD Tenants

“More Than A Roof. . . is an excellent introduction to the current housing crisis and the work of organizations across the US building a national human rights movement to end this crisis. It is appropriate for a wide range of audiences including grassroots anti-poverty and housing organizations, religious communities, NGOs and the academy.” – Crystal Hall, a Master of Divinity candidate at Union Theological Seminary and a Fellow with the Poverty Initiative

“This engagingly told story reveals in simple, accessible terms at least three profound and compelling truths:  that the systematic denial of the human right to housing is not an accident, that we do have the wherewithal to house everyone in dignity, and that ordinary people can build a movement to make that happen.  In fact, we are the only ones who can.” – Mary Bricker-Jenkins, Convener of the USA-Canada Alliance of Inhabitants