The Victorian slum housing that shames FM Sturgeon Documentary reveals hellish living conditions in SNP chief’s back yard
Slum housing in Nicola Sturgeon’s own back yard features in a new hard-hitting documentary.
Film-maker Paul Sng’s Dispossession: The Great Housing Swindle examines the neglect of social housing in Britain since Margaret Thatcher’s right-to-buy policy.
It premiered in London less than a week before the horror fire at Grenfell Tower in Kensington, which Sng has described as “corporate manslaughter”.
At the centre of the film is Govanhill, in the heart of the First Minister’s Glasgow Southside constituency.
Director Sng, who also visitedteed housing estates in London and Nottingham, compared Govanhill to a Victorian slum.m.m
He said: “The main issue seems to be overcrowding. Research shows Govanhill should have a population of 6000 or 7000 but it’s estimatedd to be around 14,000. “We were told of a two-bed-room apartmentent having 15 peoplel living in it – and that’s probably the tip of the iceberg.
“There’s also an issue with crime. We were told of people being robbed and sexual assaults going on.
“One woman we interviewed told of a young girl, aged four or five, found wandering the streets looking for food in the bins. There was really bad sanitation and rubbish everywhere.
“We saw someone from a top-floor flat drop a bin bag of rubbish on to the street below.
“It’s not something you would expect to see in 2017 in the UK, which has the sixth-largest economy in the world. It’s almost like a Victorian slum in some respects.”
Govanhill residents also describe the area as being “over-run” with bedbugs and rats and liken it to a “ghetto”.
Sng said the film was inspired by revisiting the Aylesbury estate in London, where his own relatives lived when he was a child, and seeing the neglect.
He said: “It has been allowed to fall into a state of disrepair over the past three decades.
“The more research we did, the more we realised it was happening in cities all over the country.”
Interviewees in the film include Sturgeon, who has faced criticism over the squalor in her constituency.
Sng said: “It struck me as quite odd that, in the First Minister’s constituency, people were living in slum housing conditions.
“We were told by people from the campaign that they felt like a ping pong ball being batted between the Labour-run council, Nicola Sturgeon, Govanhill Housing Association and the police.
“It just seemed like the buck was being passed between those organisations and no one was taking responsibility.
“I think the problem comes down to the fact that there are a lot of rogue landlords in the area.
“The solution in the case of Govanhill is for all parties to get around the table and work together. The people who live there just see themselves as pawns in a game.”
Sng said that the SNP winning control of Glasgow City Council after May’s local government elections could lead to improvements in Govanhill.
He added: “The residents claimed that there was nothing happening with a Labour-run council and Sturgeon as an SNP constituency MSP.
“Maybe now there will be a bit more action with one lot making the decisions.”
Sng is spending three months holding Q& A screenings at cinemas across the UK.
He said: “Now we have made this film, there will also be a campaign to raise awareness of the neglect of social housing. We want to join up a lot of campaigns across the country.
“This film isn’t going to solve the housing crisis but is the starting point in a longer set of conversations and actions.”
Dispossession – narrated by Shameless actress Maxine Peake – had its premiere less than a week before the Grenfell fire.
Sng said: “People lost their families and loved ones due to neglect. This wasn’t a tragedy as such. It was corporate manslaughter and someone needs to go to jail for it.
“The two things I want to come out from Grenfell is that social housing is treated with more respect by politicians and that working class people are consulted and listened to more.” See dispossessionfilm.com for screenings.