The Monster’s Grip – Amsterdam Under Siege

This week, the Filmmaker and the Advocate are in conversation with Gert Jan Bakker of WOON.  Amsterdam used to have strong rent control policies that protected tenants. But a neo-liberal government changed all that - selling off social housing stock to private corporations, and favoring landlords over tenants, and allowing rents to increase drastically.  Apartments that once rented for 600 euros a month increased to over 2,000, driving people out of the city. The national government still believes the market will right all wrongs, but rents are going up with no sign of relief.But national politics are not standing in the way of the City government's vision for Amsterdam.  In a city of 900,000 with 4.5 million visitors every year, and with 1 in 15 dwellings in Amsterdam registered as short-term rentals, short-term rental accommodation,  The Filmmaker and the Advocate discuss the city's push back against the short-term rentals industry.  The city is fighting to regulate Air BnB to protect popular neighborhoods from being overrun with short-term rental properties, going so far as to ban Air BnB in central zones of the city. They are now litigating the matter - and to Gert's mind, it's one of many fights worth having.  He's also preoccupied with the city struggle to preserve its way of life for local residents. Financialization has tightened its grip, with private corporations spending hundreds of millions of euros buying up thousands of properties.  Amsterdam is truly under siege, but will it survive? Produced by WG Film Recorded & Edited by Mikey JonesMusic by Florencia Di ConcilioSocial Media & Support - Maja MobergSupport the show

Om Podcasten

Cities are becoming increasingly unliveable for most people. Costs are rising but incomes are not. Sky-high rents, evictions, homelessness, and substandard housing are common realities for urban dwellers across the planet. There is a global housing crisis. How did this basic human right get so lost? Who is pushing people out of their homes and cities, and what’s being done to pushback? 

On the heels of the release of the award-winning documentary, PUSH, filmmaker, Fredrik Gertten and Leilani Farha, the former UN Special Rapporteur on the right to housing, have reconvened. Join the filmmaker and the advocate as they reflect on their experiences making PUSH and exchange ideas and stories about the film's central issue: the financialization of housing and its fall-out. 

For more about PUSH and to view it:  www.pushthefilm.com 

For more about Fredrik Gertten and his other films: www.wgfilm.com

For more about Leilani Farha in her new role, Global Director of The Shift: www.make-the-shift.org