More Than a Roof from NESRI on Vimeo.

When Raquel Rolnik, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing, heeded a call to visit the United States during the heart of the housing crisis, it was the first time a UN expert on housing had ever formally investigated the United States.  Knowing the story might never be told, a network of more than 100 grassroots organizations across the country coordinated her tour, mobilizing dozens of volunteer media makers, residents and organizers to document it.  Created from this grassroots footage, More Than a Roof follows the Special Rapporteur’s historic cross-country journey to witness the impacts of the crisis on everyday Americans.  Through her eyes and the film’s raw, honest testimonies, the consequences of government abuse and abandonment are exposed; we hear from families crowded into mold-infested trailers on Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, on the brink of losing homes to forclosure in the old coal town of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, camped out on the streets of Skid Row in downtown Los Angeles, and displaced by the massive destruction of public housing complexes in cities across the country.  Part travelougue, part call to action, More Than a Roof is a model of grassroots media making and movement building, created by people living in crisis who believe that something better is possible.

More Than a Roof is co-produced by the Campaign to Restore National Housing Rights, Housing is a Human Right, and the National Economic and Social Rights Initiative.  For more information about the film, or to order a DVD copy, visit http://www.morethanaroof.org/