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The Prime Minister sparked protests up and down the country
when she first proposed the AC30 bill to tackle the London housing crisis.
The unpopular legislation states tenant who live in properties
with housing associations acting as their landlords
are ordered to pay a fee of £18000 to keep their property.
Those unable to pay are required to give up their keys.
In a few hours a final decision will be reached,
as the votes are currently being counted.
Stay tuned.
♪ "Hello Stranger" by Brown Sugar ♪
Isn't the full moon beautiful?
Ada! Jazz!
- Say something real quick, for the camera. - Like what?
Um, like why are you here tonight?
Oh, easy.
We are celebrating the end of university,
and the big triumph of the AC30 bill not coming into existence, ever.
The AC30 bill will not get enough votes!
Say yes to more social housing! We need all the houses!
And that's the double truth, Ruth!
- This world is a bloody mess. - The act won't pass, it can't pass.
My family will lose our home, we don't have the money.
Don't worry, we're safe
No one wants that bill to pass.
The Prime Minister only proposed it for more financial endorsements.
Plus look where we are, bloody Hackney!
Actually we're in Tower Hamlets babe, Hackney is across the road.
Even if, this area doesn't represent the whole of London.
Not even Great Britain.
London: the grimy but beautiful tale of two cities.
Hey, what are you guys talking about?
The bill.
Oh that. Yeah, it just passed. The news came in about a minute ago.
- Oh my God. - Oh my God.
What's wrong?
That frickin' AC30 bill just passed with a majority
of 48 votes.
Oh rah!
- I really can't believe it. - It's very real.
We have to do something.
- Like what? - Reject it.
Just reject it.
And how do you reject a law? Does that make sense?
We can cause a riot!
Bad idea B.
How about instead we stage a protest at 10 Downing Street.
How about we make a film?
It can be like a big collaborative project.
We'll ask the residents to share their lives on camera,
and it can be a living document of this estate, our area.
I like it.
How is a film going to change public opinion?
I prefer my riot idea.
Look, it doesn't have to be that complex.
We'll start with one interview, which will lead to two, and then more.
The aim is to bring a wider awareness to the people that live in council estates,
the occupants of social housing.
Yeah, just because people live in tower blocks doesn't mean they need to be forgotten.
Come on guys, hurry up.
- Was that bike heavy, yeah? - Yeah oh, so heavy, God.
- Are we going to the Dorset Estate? - Yeah, Bethnal Green.
- So... - Are we doing a little test?
No, see the plan of action, we've gotta be quick.
So, it's an important project and we need to stress how important it is to them.
Definitely, we need to make them feel like their voices are being heard.
Because up until this point they definitely haven't.
There was no way we thought that bill was going to pass...
- And here we are. - So what shall we do? Test!
I mean, what do we want to ask them, like...
We just want to ask them about how long they've been living in the estate,
and how they feel about the changes that are happening, do you know what I mean?
You know, it was like, what would they...
- So if Jazz was a resident... - Yeah.
What are you going to ask Jazz?
I'd ask her about her history,
in the estate, and family ties, and what this decision is going to do to her.
And I'll queue the angles like...
Maybe you could like ask them, what they would do in a position of power.
If the roles were reversed, that'd be interesting.
This gonna be sick man.
- I think it's going to be really good. - Really cool.
- I can't wait. - As long as we pitch it right.
Yeah, that's important.
- Make an actual difference. - Well I'm DOP.
- So we'll see. - Yeah, cool. Sweet.
Let's go.
- I always get so nervous with this bit. - I know.
Also, where is your hat?
Special occasions only.
- Special occasions only? - Is this not a special occasion?
- Yeah! Changing society. - You gotta look sharp, man.
You've got to look intellectual for this, man.
- Hmm. - It's about first impressions.
- Shall we knock again, or? - Yeah...
Oh gosh.
Sometimes I just wanna shout "Hello?"
- I don't think that would work. - It's quite early, but I mean...
- Shall we try the next one? - Ok, yeah.
- The next floor? - Alright, cool.
Please, please, please, please, please...
Hello, hi.
I'm Ada, this is Jazz, and Rooney, my pals.
I grew up in the area, and I'm a film student,
we're doing some research for a documentary that we want to make
about the AC30 bill, and social housing.
- Ok. - Yeah, so I've been going around
knocking on people's doors,
and asking whether they could spare some of their time to talk about it.
Yeah, I'm interested. I've got stuff to say.
- Really? - Yeah, do you wanna come in?
That would be amazing, ok. Shoes off or on, or is that ok?
Brilliant!
Ok, ready?
So my name is Spencer.
And I'm a lift engineer, which I've been doing for 30 years.
Hi my name's Sylvan Best, I'm a caretaker at Tower Hamlet Homes.
And I've been working here for 12 years or so.
Hi my name's Haynsley Brown, I'm a caretaker but I'm an apprentice.
I've been working for about a year.
Hi, my name's Edna Furey
I've been living in George Loveless House for 25 years.
Ok, so I think as the AC30 bill has been pushed through,
we will begin to see the working classes being pushed out from the centre.
They will... No one will admit to this,
but you'll just see it happening, it's already happening.
If you look around, y'know there's certain key sites around, in central London where,
y'know, estates with, "regeneration" where estates have been...
They've done a site clearance, and then rebuilt, but it's all private.
Y'know, and money is the way that, money speaks,
and controls everything, so if people haven't got money...
They kinda get pushed out.
I don't think that this bill is, is...
Is positive for anyone of lower classes.
So, erm...
Yeah, in general I think it's a negative bill, I really do. But...
It is what it is, if that's the way of the future,
then you somehow have to embrace it and...
Just, y'know... Basically...
What do you think Haynsley?
I think that the bill is a good thing.
- Really? - Yeah.
Because I think it tells the people that you need to, like...
Get better results and work a bit harder.
The AC30 bill will be the death of London, really.
It...
Yes, it will not be able to continue, erm...
Existing properly as a city, as an eco-system.
When I moved here the estate was in need of some TLC.
People were, erm...
Using their right-to-buy and buying up flats and then immediately leaving.
And...
This whole area was littered with,
signs saying "For Sale" or "For Rent".
There was a...
constant, very rapid turn over of people.
So, it was very unsettled, quite dodgy.
It was quite fun as well, but in a Wild West sort of way.
I've known the estate for at least 20 years,
I kinda grew up in and around Dorset Estate.
I've seen it grow and change.
I've got friends who lived here, family who lived here,
been to functions, it was a meeting place for us.
And we've always had good times there,
and a lot of good memories of the place. Still.
The housing office was across the park,
in those days...
So I met the housing officer there, then we walked across the park,
to the block and the first thing that greets you is the magnificent stairwell.
And it was just fabulous.
Nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine.
- We're gonna get trapped. - No we're not.
- Have you ever got trapped in a lift before? - With a pizza guy.
- With a pizza guy! Did he give you the pizza? - No.
- That's rude... - He was delivering to...
one of the higher flats.
And he's in the lift, and he's just standing there, and he's worried.
Cuz his delivery timer is just clocking on.
My name is Meneesha Kellay, and I'm a curator specialising in architecture.
My name is Elsie Owusu, and I'm an architect.
My name is John Allan,
I've been a practising architect for over 40 years now.
Well Berthold Lubetkin was an extraordinarily significant architect
in the development of modern architecture in this country.
And the Dorset Estate which we're talking about here was a major project
in his post-war career.
He certainly had a major impact on my
perception of what architecture could, and should, aspire to be.
Well I must say I didn't expect to be here 50 years after...
You mean you wouldn't expect you to be here, or the building to be here?
No, both! To be blown by the Jerries
and me, out of action.
He was a radical, a revolutionary, having witnessed the Russian revolution,
when he was a young man.
And he kept that revolutionary spirit all the way through his life.
He did some wonderful work,
he did luxury apartments like High Point, but also
the penguin pool, which he did with Ove Arup, the great engineer.
And the Dorset Estate,
and other councils, in quotation marks, "council housing estates".
Which were real radical contributions to the social life of the country.
In talking about the Dorset Estate one really has to go back a few years and understand
Lubetkin and his partners activity in the borough of Finsbury,
where they began to develop extremely progressive
and enlightened set of social policies.
The only building they achieved during the 30s was the Finsbury Health Centre.
However, part of that programme was
that the housing in the deprived parts of Finsbury should be substantially improved.
And there were a number of projects that were brought to fruition after the war,
Bethnal Green council had visited Finsbury,
and were certainly highly impressed by the work that was being undertaken and being planned.
Shortly after the war, one of the more progressive councillors
said, what we must do is get the best architects
to come and work in Bethnal Green, to drive forward our housing programme.
And one of the earliest projects was the Dorset Estate.
Which has to be seen as part of the...
The whole national programme of reconstruction
that was getting going after the war.
We know that there's a housing crisis in London,
and that regeneration is happening
but perhaps it's not always happening in the way that's best for everyone.
So an example of this is a thousand homes
were demolished in the Heygate Estate
the plot was sold to LendLease who are
quite a major developer. And all the residents there were removed.
They were relocated
in other parts of the city, and sometimes beyond London.
So some were moved up to Stoke on Trent, Slough, Sidcup.
None were rehoused in zone 1 or 2,
they were given pennies compared to what the local area,
guide prices suggested, so...
One resident for example, a one bed flat, she was given £80'000
whereas flats nearby were selling for £300'000.
And so it was quite clear that none of these residents
could be rehoused in zone 1 or 2.
They were moved out of the city, and I think that fundamentally changes
the kind of demographic that you're getting in zone 1 or zone 2.
I think that you find that a lot of people from
outside areas are coming into Tower Hamlets, to work.
And are being offered opportunities that should be offered to the local people.
That's true.
I think that as well, that's true, that's very true.
Before I started architecture I lived in Burton Road
which was demolished to make way for the Loughborough Estate.
And on the other side were
some beautiful Victorian houses which were demolished
to make way for Angell Town Estate.
And actually there is a recognition now as we
said when we fighting those proposals a long long time ago,
that the designs that were replacing them
were nowhere near as good as what were considered to be slums.
But I think that with Dora Boatemah's leadership
Angell Town Estate has
just massively improved beyond the original designs.
So it shows what the power of residents can do.
I love living in a tower block.
Tower blocks get bad press. Grenfell Tower happened,
my God it fed into everybody's...
This feeling that, the image that people have.
Y'know, it's bad, it's full of poor people, it's this that and the other.
It's fantastic. And I'm not saying that
every day is perfect, but it's great for my life, I've got really nice neighbours.
It's just lovely. It's changed my life.
The housing stock that's been disposed of, that has been sold off
is not going to be very easily replaced.
And I think poorer people
people on lower incomes are being pushed out, further and further.
Out of the city. And even places like Stratford,
which was traditionally places where
people on lower incomes could at least find
a starting place, and younger people could
find a place to start their homes, is becoming completely unaffordable.
And I think the consequence for that is a loss to London.
In terms of it's culture, in terms of it's diversity.
And it's creativity.
I mean, eventually one could...
Extrapolate this process and see an extreme position where cities
effectively stop working.
Social investment has to be a continuous process.
You can't just leave it for one or two governments
and then hope to catch up later. Because the problem is developing, or at least...
The requirements are increasing the whole time.
So it has to be a case of continuous progressive investment.
And that's exactly what this bit of legislation will effectively overturn.
...legislation will effectively overturn.
♪ "One Love Style" by Nia & Natty ♪