Adequate housing is a challenge for a growing number of people. The documentary series The keys to the housepresented at Savoir media, pinpoints the problems and shows solutions.
Choosing where to live often boils down to a mathematical equation: everyone assesses the type of apartment or property that they can afford – or that they can find – according to their budget. There is also a lot of talk about the cost of housing in the series. The keys to the house, directed by Vanessa Boisset. Whether host Vanessa Destiné chats with families or immigrants, talking about money is a must.
What stands out? That housing is becoming more and more expensive, of course, which makes access to adequate and well-located housing more and more difficult. “We see how the lack of access to decent housing leads to a whole series of problems that will just push people into poverty and increase the gap between the rich and the poor”, illustrates the host.
Talking about housing, however, is much more than talking about real estate investment. The six episodes of the series each focus on a group: families, students, seniors, adults with special needs, low-income people and newcomers.
Vanessa Destiné goes each time to meet people who tell their experience and that of experts who take a broad look at the situation.
It is a question of urban planning, the environment, access to services and public transport, urban sprawl, but also good neighbourliness, mutual aid and human dignity. In short, what is at the heart of House keys, it is living together in the broad sense. And the imagination of people facing housing problems.
promising ideas
Vanessa Destiné goes in particular to meet two single mothers who have decided to buy a duplex together to stay in the Limoilou district, in Quebec, where they have their roots. They recount the pleasures of this “cohabitation”, but also the administrative challenges they faced.
The facilitator also visits a group of five seniors who have decided to form a cooperative and live in shared accommodation in Sutton. The idea: to preserve their autonomy as long as possible, to gather their forces to share the tasks while each retaining their freedom. The principle of collective housing is also put forward by UTILE, a non-profit organization that develops housing for students.
PHOTO FROM THE SERIES THE KEYS TO THE LOGIS
A group of five seniors formed a cooperative to live together in Sutton, in the Eastern Townships.
The idea of adopting community rather than individual strategies in order to improve access to quality housing comes up many times in the series. Through housing cooperatives, in particular. “The obstacle is often the legal framework, to convince the bureaucracy, but I think it’s a solution that is much more accessible than we think”, estimates Vanessa Destiné, who however deplores the lack of information and the prejudices against this mode of cohabitation.
The keys to the house also discusses the challenges ahead: the challenge represented by the aging of the population (and the fact that more than 25% of seniors, especially women, find themselves in a precarious financial situation), urban sprawl and the inevitable need to densify cities. “The big condo towers scare a lot of people, but the future depends on these big towers where we can accommodate as many people as possible. But to house them well, ”she says, referring to families.
It may not be a conversation we are ready to have, but we have to talk about the collective desire that we have in the West to have a single-family house, a large yard and two cars, when we know very well that it is not a viable model in the near future.
Vanessa Destiné, host of the documentary series
The keys to the house also notes that many cities simply do not allow the construction of other types of housing than single-family homes on their territory, without even offering the possibility of transforming them into bigenerational residences.
The keys to the house thus navigates between human stories and administrative constraints to paint an eloquent portrait of housing issues, while emphasizing innovative and inspiring projects. Citizens and their well-being are always at the center of the series visibly concerned with social justice.
“There is something deeply inhuman in saying that there are different classes of citizens, judge Vanessa Destiné, and that we will keep the most beautiful housing for a minority of people and that the others do not have to complain because at least they have a roof over their heads. »
On Savoir media from Wednesday at 8 p.m.